Cotswold School expansion receives planning consent

Aug 11 2020

Gloucestershire County Council has granted planning consent for the application to expand The Cotswold School in Bourton on the Water by one form of entry. Robothams have acted as the agent for the planning application as well as designing the elements of the scheme.

Robothams were appointed in 2019 by Speller Metcalfe and Gloucestershire County Council to design a one form of entry expansion to the ‘Outstanding’ Academy school in the Cotswold village of Bourton on the Water. The practice engaged with the school to define the brief undertaking a BB103 analysis of the existing accommodation and analysis of the site. Our initial assessment identified the need for enhanced / expanded science accommodation, additional general teaching rooms and a shortfall in sport facilities.

The scheme will therefore deliver a new 10 classroom building including resources base and staff accommodation, an additional science laboratory and a new activity studio and changing rooms. The practice sought and gained planning consent from Gloucestershire County County Council with a start on site made in September 2020.

In addition to meeting the requirements of the functional brief the building needed to address the Cotswold vernacular and the context of the sites location in the AONB. The facades combined render, architectural masonry and standing seam metal roofs to complement earlier developments at the school and meet local authority requirements.

The buildings will also meet the County Council expectations that new facilities should exceed the energy and thermal performance set out in the building regulations with integration of renewables and enhanced building envelope.

The project is due for completion in 2021.

Latest images from RDA Lowlands

Oct 15 2018

Works are progressing on site at RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) Lowlands Equestrian Centre on their new spectators area for the indoor menage, training accommodation and new offices. Due for completion in 2019, Greswolde Construction are completing the project in phases, the first of which is before Christmas.

Above, outdoor viewing area

Above, indoor viewing area for 150 people

Above, exterior of new training and office building

For images of the completed project see our post from February 2017.

Post 16 Centre completed for Sidney Stringer Academy

Aug 18 2018

The extension to Sidney Stringer Academy has been completed ready for occupation in September by the school. Constructed by A M Griffiths the steel frame extension provides a learning centre, social space, classrooms and office for the school’s thriving sixth form. The design responds to the original RIBA awarding building wrapping the poly-chromatic grey cladding around the first floor extension whilst retaining parking for visitors at the ground floor.

The design team included PMP Consultants, Halligan Associates, Shire Consulting, OCC QS and Cundall Acoustics.

Above, images courtesy of PMP Consultants of building prior to fit out.

New entrance building completes, Beaufort Cooperative Academy

Apr 23 2018

A significant part of our design for Beaufort Cooperative Academy in Gloucester has now been handed over to the school by contractor, E G Carter. The new entrance building consolidates arrival for visitors and administration functions into a prominent location on the approach to the school support a wider objective to enhance the image of the school.

The new entrance was opened at an event on the 27th March 2018, by Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Cooperatives UK. Further phases of refurbishment and a new build teaching building are due to be delivered during the summer ready for the start of the new academic year.

More detail is available about the scheme within the Projects section of our website.

Above, Principal, David Bishop with Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Cooperatives UK

Extension to Beaufort Cooperative Academy, Gloucester

Dec 05 2016

Appointed by E G Carter, a contractor based in Gloucester, the practice are currently working on designs to extend an existing secondary school in the Tuffley area of the city. The creation of a development plan for the school has led to the progression of a first phase to create space for an additional form of entry. It addresses shortfalls in science and general teaching rooms whilst also creating a new entrance to the school and improving circulation within the existing building.

Above, the new entrance joins two existing buildings and identifies a more legible ‘front door’ for visitors.

Above, the new teaching block will be naturally lit with a mixed mode ventilation system aimed at lowering energy use.

The scheme will shortly be submitted for planning consent and if approved will begin on site with a targeted completion of summer 2018.

Sixth form boarding house created at Old Swinford Hospital

Jan 21 2016

Work has begun on site to create a dedicated sixth form boarding house at Old Swinford Hospital, a secondary boarding school near Stourbridge.

The project will see an existing boarding house modernised to create single and twin occupancy rooms with en-suite shower rooms for 60 pupils. An internal courtyard is covered with a lightweight glass structure to create a central common room, with routes to link through the building and connections to a new study area, library and kitchen.

Stepnell have been appointed to begin the construction work with completion due in summer 2016 for occupation by pupils at the beginning of the academic year. The design team includes DBK as cost consultant, E3 designing the M&E services and Nolan Associates developing the structural design.

Commission to create the Discovery Academy in Nuneaton

Jun 15 2015

Robothams have been commissioned by Warwickshire County Council and Wates Construction to create a SEN school in Nuneaton for the MacIntyre Academy Trust. The school will accommodate pupils with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (BESD). This is required to meet demand for high quality specialist provision for pupils who are otherwise placed outside of the County with independent providers.

MacIntyre Academies is a multi-academy trust for special schools and specialist alternative provision. Sponsored by the national charity MacIntyre, their schools benefit from 48 year’s experience of innovative approaches to supporting children with special educational needs and their families.

The School will initially offer 26 places upon opening, rising to a provision of 80 full day places for children aged 9-18 years. It is envisaged that class sizes will be around eight to ten pupils.

The scheme reuses a former secondary school made redundant by the creation of the Nuneaton Academy in 2011. The existing courtyards and twentieth century brick facades have created a foil against which to set contemporary insertions to augment and extend the existing space. Closely connected landscape and spatial strategies combine to deliver a successful setting for this type of school.

Above, the existing buildings provide an intimate scale and private courtyards create a range of opportunities for outdoor activities.

Above, concept sketch of internal courtyard space.

The project is being led by Andrew Haines and Dawn Spicer, drawing on their experience delivering North Leamington School, and two free schools in Birmingham.

Dawn says of the scheme, ‘it is an inherently sustainable project, the scale and character of the existing buildings will create a delightful school for the pupils with minimum impact on local residents’.

Planning consent was granted in April for the project, with Wates Construction due to complete the school in early 2016 for occupation by the first pupils in September.

Robothams instructed on the detailed design of the MCBB extension

Mar 25 2015

We have been instructed to develop the detailed design by Deeley Construction of an extension to the award winning MCBB building at the University of Warwick. The building has been designed by BMJ Architects and is being delivered on a design and build basis.

The extension will contain additional laboratories, write up space, storage and plant areas and is due for completion in 2016.

David Sercombe of Robothams said, ‘this is a prestigious project for us to be involved with, building on our existing relationships with Deeleys and the University’.

Images by BMJ Architects

Housman Hall project completes on site

Jan 12 2015

The refurbishment of the former home of A E Housman has been completed on site and is a further addition to Bromsgrove School’s portfolio of boarding houses.

It was intended to replace the existing outmoded boarding accommodation on a phased basis, with pupil numbers being maintained at all times. The new boarding houses are designed to be vernacular in form to fit into the conservation area with contemporary interventions limited to double height structural glazed entrance foyers.

Within the existing listed building the proposals have returned the rooms to their original form and reinserting the Georgian architecture combined with expanding the existing dining area to permit all students at the sixth form campus to sit together for meals.

The proposals preserve and enhance the character of Housman Hall by removing the unsympathetic extensions replacing them with a more appropriate development, retaining the existing listed building and enhancing the buildings mature leafy surroundings. The core philosophy of the site plan was to extend the landscape foil, removing car parking and built form from the centre of the site and relocating it to the perimeter, providing a landscaped setting for the listed building to breathe.

Warwickshire College’s Leamington Atrium officially opens

Dec 05 2014

The fourth of December saw the opening of Warwickshire College’s new entrance by business leader, Justin King CBE. It was the celebration of years of hard work by the project team who had collaborated to create a stunning new entrance space.

Above, a few pictures of the event and the building courtesy of Chris Ballantine