This is a new Voluntary Aided 3FE junior school which replaced an existing undersized and poor school accommodation. The school site is located within a densely populated area of Brent and borders onto two residential roads. The new school provides modern educational facilities for 360 pupils while improving the use of the extended school by the local community through the use of an accessible studio and hall, together with group rooms and an ICT suite.
Large bay windows break up the façade and bring it into scale with the residential properties. The new hall and double storey studio are located at the centre of the site to minimise the impact onto the adjacent houses, while emphasising their significance to school life. The external spaces were designed to provide a variety of play areas and areas for reflection including an amphitheatre; a special educational needs garden, a landscaped courtyard, and a multi-games area.
The age range of the students is 7 to 11 years and it is a DCSF Targeted Capital funded project through the Local Authority. The project’s date of inception was October 2005. The Design Phase ran from approximately January 2006 to April 2006. The building was completed in December 2008.
DQI helped to transfer different stakeholder views into clear priorities for the designer and set a common basis for measuring how well the design met the schools needs
Post-Occupancy evaluation helped continuing improvement by designers and its outcomes made the client knowledgeable on future projects.