Why investing in new school buildings is still the right answer


Even in a hostile funding climate, energy efficiency and community cohesion have proved two very strong arguments for investing in new or improved school buildings. Veronica Simpson reports on some of the most innovative, economically inventive and inspiringly sustainable schemes.


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Words by Veronica Simpson

In a hIlly, leafy neighbourhood of north Islington, Edwardian terraced houses stand in proximity to bland multistorey council blocks in an urban landscape that looks like so many others around the UK. But these utilitarian blocks of flats hide a regenerative gem: Crouch Hill Park's Ashmount Primary School.

Nestled into a densely forested piece of neglected Metropolitan Open Land once occupied by a shabby but much-loved community centre (closed several years ago) and a vibrant but not very loved youth centre, this zero-carbon, wood-clad school building is now teeming with wholesome activity.

Stacked to four storeys with vistas at every level, a strong sense of the life weaves through the building, both inside and out. A separate building for a n is dug into the earth next to the school, connecting with the school's dining hall at ground floor, its turf roof and ventilation shafts providing a charming, Teletubbyish twist. Architecture practice Penoyre & Prasad (P&P) won the competition for this scheme thanks to its people-focused and site-friendly solution. Says lead architect Ian Goodfellow: 'Our whole idea was about having a building that landed lightly in the trees. There's a sense of progressing right through the school, from earth dwellers to tree dwellers.'

But this isn't just about the school. P&P masterplanned the entire Crouch Hill Park site to create a high-quality learning and recreational environment for the whole community - including the youth centre regulars. A single access road across the site has been moved to the boundary to improve pedestrian connections and the quality of public space between buildings. The youth centre has been moved into spacious new floors constructed above a disused power-generating station, originally designed to service electrified trains and now housing a district heating system using a gas CHP and biomass boiler, which will provide power for the school, youth centre and nearby homes.

Schools by Architype.Commissioned by Wolverhampton Council
Schools by Architype.Commissioned by Wolverhampton Council.Photo By LeighSimpson

Along with two additional floors of activity and games rooms, there is an ecology centre, and a cafe (which is intended to bring employment as well as community engagement) with views out on to the woodland that has become a shared resource with locals; they are now far more likely to take advantage of the woodland walks as well as a new multipurpose games area used by the school in term time but free for community use out of school hours. In fact, since the school opened a year ago, the community has funded and coordinated an adventure playground in the woods.

Head teacher Pana McGee says: 'This was a run-down part of the community...It encouraged the wrong activities. It wasn't safe so it wasn't used. The difficult thing - and the wonderful thing - is that it was like a secret garden. This project has reclaimed this site for the school and for the community.'

For the pupils - and staff - the location is a huge bonus, says McGee 'The idea of having urban kids being taught in essentially a rural environment was very inspiring. We are in north London, right in the city. A lot of our children live in flats with no gardens. So really I wanted these kids that don't have green space to have that opportunity. We can use the green space. It gives [the school] a different kind of quality and feel. The outside is definitely brought in on every level. What I love about this site is that you can smell the trees when it rains. You understand about nature better when it's all around you.'

Oakmeadow School,.Commissioned by Wolverhampton Council
Oakmeadow School,.Commissioned by Wolverhampton Council. Photo By LeighSimpson

But this scheme was only possible because Islington Council, which commissioned it, was willing to take a lateral look at the whole site and make the necessary departmental connections to make both the funding and the logistics add up. Though it took nine years, and 51 planning permission iterations, its campaigning and consultation efforts paid off: this is the only Islington school scheme that survived the crippling cuts to school building plans made after the 2010 election.

London is facing a critical situation, as parents opt to stay close to jobs in the capital rather than relocate to the country once they have children, as was typical. The London Councils report 2013 revealed that, by 2015-16, London will be 90,000 school places short, going up to 118,000 by the following year (almost half of the national shortfall). The primary population bulge also has inevitable implications for secondary schools a few years down the line. So education authorities - and schools themselves - are having to get inventive.

One avenue of funding for schools has come through collaborations between schools, local authorities and developers. Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects (PTEa) has drawn on its experience as both architects and developers to realise several such schemes, including St Thomas' CE Primary School in Kensington and well as Camden's Netley Development, with income generated by the sale of apartments built either above or adjacent to the school. PTEa's Tidemill School in Lewisham demonstrates (see case study) this can be done sensitively; this multifaceted development (school with homes, art studios, offices, library and sports facilities) is playing a major part in regenerating one of the most deprived boroughs in London.

Elsewhere, a few enlightened councils have adopted a long-term strategy and taken on the cost of building new schools that will massively reduce their energy bills. Wolverhampton City Council, for example, has been working with Passivhaus specialist Architype to build the UK's first Passivhaus schools - Oakmeadow Primary School and Bushbury Hill Primary School - with the proviso that the buildings should cost no more than any standard school construction.

Rosendale School, Dulwich, South London
Rosendale School, Dulwich, South London.

Completed in 2011 each school has a lightweight, super-insulated timber frame for Passivhaus airtightness, with a simplified loadbearing stud wall, wrapped by an additional layer of insulation. Passively ventilated all through the summer, full mechanical ventilation and heat-recovery systems (MVHR) keep the schools warm and ventilated through the winter.

Both schools have achieved BREEAM Excellence certification. Head teacher of Oakmeadow School, Sara Morris, reports that the children are more alert and attentive, and that the quality of air and light in the school 'has raised our spirits...there were whoops of delight on the first day - the children and teachers love it.'

So pleased with the results is the council that it has not only commissioned Architype to rebuild a school that had burned down, and do so using Passivhaus techniques, but also invited it to develop Passivhaus council housing. Architype associate Lee Fordham says: 'The council has had visitors from all over the world to look at its Passivhaus schools. It has really put them on the map.' Architype has also been approached by other councils - notably from Wiltshire and Leeds, for which the practice has built another Passivhaus school. Though Fordham agrees that the energy savings are a clear justification for local councils to head down this route, he points out that 'it only makes sense when they are paying the bills'.

Tidemills Academy
Tidemills Academy

The funding structure becomes more complicated when it comes to secondary schools - councils are not responsible for the maintenance of academies, for example.

This is why there has been so much gung-ho demolition of secondary schools - many of which may have been salvageable with a little creativity and a fraction of the rebuild budget.

Roger Hawkins of Hawkins\Brown has spoken out often against the wasteful short-termism of the secondary school sector - with clusters of new school contracts handed to contractors who only wish to minimise risk and maximise profit.

He contrasts this approach with UK universities, which generally take great care within their estates to refresh buildings that are still viable, and work within long-term masterplans to maintain and improve the entire campus.

A rare exception is Eltham Hill School in Greenwich, which appointed Hawkins\Brown to masterplan improvements across its campus.

The resulting scheme involved retaining the original Twenties building and a listed summer house, and replacing a Sixties extension with a three-storey block and sports hall. Additional funding was gained by designing the scheme to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent.

Oasis Academy, Enfield
Oasis Academy, Enfield

But Hawkins\Brown also invested in the school community by including student work placements, running a student leadership conference, a construction-industry careers event, and a student competition to design artwork for the new atrium.

The first phase completed in September 2012, with the final united campus opened 12 months later. For a total cost of £20m (compared with an equivalent newbuild cost of £25m), the school is now functioning far more efficiently with a more motivated and inspired community. Clearly, where there's a will, there's a way.

But the case studies here demonstrate that there are a whole range of options for creating inspiring socially, culturally and energy efficient schools that will serve their communities for decades - if not centuries - to come.

Case Studies

Rosendale School
Dulwich, South London

This is one of many Victorian schools whose additions and interventions over the past century have impacted entirely negatively on the schools' energy use and pupil wellbeing.

In 2011 Edward Cullinan architects proposed refurbishing four problematic classrooms to demonstrate how much more effectively the original building - with a few enhancements - could perform. A thermal model of the rooms helped ECA to address problems caused by a series of leaky conservatories, added in the 1990s for more space but without any thought to thermal performance.

Their windows were upgraded with high-performance solar controlled glass, while openings were repositioned to maximise light and minimise glare. Original fireplaces and original wood floors were refurbished; windows were refurbished or replaced with opening sashes; roofs insulated, false ceilings ripped out and a variety of fixed and loose seating and display furniture designed and installed to reduce clutter and maximise space efficiency.

Cost £300,000 (in three phases)

Completed Ongoing. Begun 2011, due for completion in 2018. The first phase was so effective the school commissioned and activated ECA's five-year plan of improvements.

 

Tidemills Academy
Lewisham, London

Tidemills Academy, designed by Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects (PTEa) combines a bright, airy and colourful primary school with a state-of-the-art community library and learning resource (the Deptford Lounge), which also provides council office and community office space, artists studios and gallery.

The school's sports, music and entertainment facilities are shared with the local community out of hours, while additional funds for the building were raised by adding a block of high-quality, rented housing association flats to the rear. These are set back from the school and stepped away from the playground to minimise the feeling of being overlooked.

Classrooms and facilities are arranged in an L-shape around an open courtyard, with the Deptford Lounge forming the third side. The classrooms are naturally ventilated and lit, with wide corridors that double up as additional teaching space. To make the most of facilities in a tight space a rooftop sports court has been added.

Cost 25m (combined value of Tidemill Academy, Deptford Lounge and new artist studios)

Cost per square metre £2,428

Area 3,556 sq m for school, including shared community facilities

One of Architype’s Passivhaus schools, the Wilkinson Primary School. Photo: Dennis Gilbert/View
One of Architype's Passivhaus schools, the Wilkinson Primary School. Photo: Dennis Gilbert/View


Oasis Academy, Enfield

Sited on formerly industrial land, John McAslan + Partners' Oasis Academy has created a vibrant new learning campus for primary, secondary and sixth-form students which also offers outstanding community facilities and provides additional regeneration momentum for the borough of Enfield.

The school's facade looks on to a new public plaza, where markets, fetes and community activities can be held while, out of school hours, local residents have full use of an indoor sports hall, dance studios, an all-weather pitch and event and performance facilities in the school hall.

Inspired by the Academy's model of 'learning zones', four blocks are arranged in a 'pin-wheel' configuration around a multifunctional central 'agora' or 'heart'. The south block houses nursery and primary classrooms, the east and west are for secondary.

The airy atrium-lit agora is used for dining, assemblies, performances and informal teaching, in a series of 9m-wide open plan informal learning spaces. The library, ICT area, dining, kitchen and drama facilities are all accessed from here. The building is highly legible, with clear sightlines from this agora to the faculty entrances and the external landscape.

Environmental sustainability is a key element of the design, with roof-mounted solar, thermal and photovoltaic panels, solar-control glass, orientation of buildings and glazing to maximise light but reduce solar gain, and a heating plant configured to allow future connection to a Combined Heat and Power plant. The aim is to achieve a minimum of 20 per cent generation of renewable energy on site.

Client London Borough of Enfield Oasis Community Learning

Cost £21m

Completed 2012



Crouch Hill Park - Ashmount primary school

In a reclaimed piece of Metropolitan Open Land, along a decommissioned railway track, Ashmount Primary School by Penoyre & Prasad gives its urban children a slice of quasi-rural living.

Like a treehouse, the school is stacked to four storeys to accommodate a steep incline, with views out over both junior and infant playgrounds to aid orientation at each level, and two circulation paths to aid flow. The stacked design ensures that the school is never overwhelming. Dining and events hall are on the ground floor, as is the library, forming the school's heart.

Crouch Hill Park  - Ashmount primary school. Photo:Morley Von Sternberg,
Crouch Hill Park - Ashmount primary school. Photo:Morley Von Sternberg.

Feature colours help to identify each floor, though the background palette is neutral, allowing children and their artwork to provide the colour. Astroturf roof terraces on the top floor are surrounded by a balcony with wood-lined square holes for safe views beyond.

In this zero-carbon scheme all habitable spaces in the school are naturally ventilated - all classrooms use the 'e-stack' low-energy ventilation system that provides heat recovery in winter and safe night-time cooling, while grey water from showers and wash basins flushes toilets.

Cost £16.5m to develop whole site

Site area 26,322sqm



Four Dwellings Primary School
Birmingham

Birmingham was one of the luckier boroughs in the post-2010 election Building Schools for the Future (BSF) bloodbath - some 21 of the proposed 89 schools lined up for the region have been delivered.

Four Dwellings by dRMM will be one of the last, and demonstrates beautifully that bespoke design brings far more to the party. This innovative design delivers a plan that serves this school's historic commitment to hands-on, project-based education.

Classrooms are arranged in a loop around a central, circular hall - an egg-yellow floored 'yolk' fringed with shared learning areas, with classrooms arranged along the circular building's perimeter. This minimises wasted corridor space, and maximises parents' access to teachers - children from reception to Year 4 enter their classrooms directly from the playground. Year 5 and 6 classrooms are on the first floor.

Four Dwellings Primary School Birmingham
Four Dwellings Primary School Birmingham. Photo: Alex De Rijke.

Each classroom has a different quality and age-specific outdoor space, creating a sense of progression through the school.

Bright toilet pods are clustered around the exterior, clad in cedar shingles and sprinkled with stainless steel sparkles. Its timber-frame construction, cedar cladding and recycled aggregate blocks enhance environmental performance, with close attention by the architects to both client groups' wishes and relationships with the contractor and builders delivering a unique building of a lasting quality.

Area Gross Internal Space 9,025 sq m

Cost Confidential








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