Cornerstone C of E Primary School is a new school in Whiteley for 630 pupils aged from 4-11 years. Located in the heart of the North Whiteley Housing Development an ongoing development of 3500 new homes, local facilities and new secondary school. The School provides a high-quality learning environment for the current and future generations of children and families in the local community.
The original site comprised of agricultural land on a high point on the development and bounded with mature tree belts and well-established hedgerows to the northern and southern boundaries. The site is designated as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. When the whole development is complete there will be a commercial centre with nursery and shops to the North of main school pedestrian entrance with the main road to the West and housing to the South and East. All of which will be screened by the existing trees and hedgerows. The school is designed to actively engage with the surrounding community.
Location: North Whiteley, Hampshire
Client: Hampshire County Council Childrens Services
Budget: £12.3m
Site Area: 2.73 Ha
Building Footprint: 2970m2
Project Team: HCC Property Services: Architects, Interior Design, Landscape Architects, M&E Services, Quantity Surveying, Structural, Civils and Building Inspectors.
Acoustics: 24 Acoustics Ltd.
Main Contractor: Midas
The design of the school is 3 single storey linear teaching wings that spread east and west from the central school entrance, LRC and hall which are located at front of the school adjacent to the local commercial centre. There is also a small church linked to main hall to allow greater use with the wider community. The pallet of materials is simple and robust using local red brick facades and mono pitched metal roofs to the teaching spaces and flat roofs to circulation and ancillary spaces.
The school has been carefully planned and orientated to respect its context. All classrooms face South with wide canopies to prevent solar gain and provide outdoor teaching spaces and clearstory windows facing North to benefit from natural daylight and aid cross ventilation. In response to the natural level change across the site the South facing teaching wing has been set lower and linked with an enclosed ramp. Photovoltaic panels have been installed to the Hall.
Tim Clarke, HeadteacherI would like to thank Tim Burgess, who as head architect for Cornerstone has been incredibly clever and creative in his designs, and incredibly detailed in thinking through every detail. Throughout this iterative process he has listened and worked in a productive partnership with myself, staff and governors. The result of his vision and expertise is a beautiful and purposeful building and ground which will greatly enable the children’s learning and growth as people for generations.
Key Benefits:
- School designed based sustainable low energy, fabric first principles with natural ventilation and photovoltaic panels.
- Optimised glazing to maximise views and links into the landscape and natural light into the spaces to improve health and wellbeing and reduce the buildings energy demand.