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Clapham Manor School

Award-winning primary school extension

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Client: London Borough of Lambeth
Status: Completed
Location: London, UK
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Type/Sector: Education, Re-use
Tagged: Sustainability Exemplars

Collaborators

Project manager Sprunt
Cost Consultant Appleyard & Trew
Structural Engineer Michael Hadi Associates
Services Engineer Fulcrum Consulting
CDM Coordinator Appleyard & Trew
Acoustics Fleming & Barron
Main Contractor The Construction Partnership

This colourful extension gave an outstanding primary school a new identity and improved street presence, much-needed learning spaces and enhanced accessibility, all whilst maximising play space for the children.

Collaborators

Project manager Sprunt
Cost Consultant Appleyard & Trew
Structural Engineer Michael Hadi Associates
Services Engineer Fulcrum Consulting
CDM Coordinator Appleyard & Trew
Acoustics Fleming & Barron
Main Contractor The Construction Partnership
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01 A victim of its own success

Clapham Manor Primary School had become a victim of its own success, having grown from a one- to two-form entry school.

This growth had placed considerable pressure on the successful delivery of curriculum within the restrictions of the original building

Yet despite the physical constraints, the school excelled under the leadership of head teacher Brian Hazell, achieving Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ and DfES Beacon School status.

The London Borough of Lambeth asked us to consider the provision of additional learning spaces within the site that would support both learning and play.

Clapham Manor School
Clapham Manor School
Clapham Manor School
02 Under one roof

We developed the masterplan for the school in consultation with the school community and local authority. We soon learned that the school was successful because everything was ‘under one roof’.

We therefore conceived the new wing as a freestanding addition that plugged into the existing school. The location for the addition – a former caretakers’ house and awkward 1960s extension – was the most constrained and under-used portion of the site.

We wanted to create a building that would sit shoulder to shoulder with the adjacent high-quality brick buildings, but not be subservient. The Conservation Officer was supportive, provided the contemporary addition was of the highest standard.

The extension is pulled away from the flank wall of the existing school building to sit parallel with the neighbouring Grade II-listed Odd Fellows Hall – a strategic arrangement that enabled a new formal entrance to the school to be created. This improved security by acting as an organisational hub for access to the entire premises, with lines of security that could be easily controlled. The new extension and entrance had greater street presence, serving to improve the public realm outside the school gates.

Clapham Manor School
The colourful extension next to the original Victorian building.
Clapham Manor School
Clapham Manor School
03 Learning environment

In addition to new classrooms, students benefit from facilities such as spaces for performance and dance, music practice, breakout learning and socialising.

Staff share a resource room, copy facilities and administration spaces, and there are offices for the head teacher and the facilities and premises manager. The wider community can also use the spaces outside of school hours, extending the agenda of lifelong learning.

Clapham Manor Primary School was the recipient of a RIBA award, shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, and a winner at the Civic Trust Awards. Its striking façade, with a shifting colour spectrum, was inspired by post war system-built schools. It acts within the neighbourhood as a beacon for excellence and the imagination, and speaks to the school motto of “growing brighter futures” within.

Like all good architecture, it does something beyond its boundaries. It's sorted out an old back alley and has turned it into a wonderful front door for the school where parents and children gather in the morning and the evening, and that's what good architecture does: positive contribution to the urban public realm.
Ivan Harbour
Stirling Prize jury citation

Awards

2010
Shortlisted, RIBA Stirling Prize
2011
London Planning Awards for Best Built Project, Community Category
2011
New London Awards (NLA), Learning Category
2011
Commended, Mayor’s Award for Planning Excellence
2010
Civic Trust Award
2009
Highly commended, World Architecture Festival Awards', 'Learning' category
2009
Shortlisted, Architectural Review Awards for Emerging Architecture

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