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New Denholm Primary School.
How it came about and
what it will be like..
In April 2006 the
village of Denholm suffered the loss
of the long established
primary school
due to fire. Scottish Borders
Council pledged to provide a new
school for the village and work
began to secure the funding, clear
the site and
design a new purpose-built facility
for the children and wider community
of Denholm.
The Education and
Lifelong Learning Department of
Scottish Borders Council
has developed a detailed design
brief for all new Borders’ schools
as part of
an assessment programme for the
provision of teaching and learning
in the
future. Using this as a starting
point, the Architects’ Section of
the Council
began working on the project in
October 2006. One of the first
steps was to
engage with the Denholm Users’
Group. The Group consisted of a
selection of
parents, the pre-school leader and
the Head Teacher. Regular meetings
were held by the Group and these
were attended by the Council’s
Architectural Manager, who is the
Project Manager for the new school,
and by the Council’s Assistant
Architectural Manager who is the
building’s designer.
The meetings gave
the Architect an opportunity to
understand the wishes of the Group
and for the Group in turn to gain a
better understanding of the
Council’s School of the Future
Model. The input of the Group
members has been fundamental in
achieving the final design solution,
with changes being made throughout
the design process in response to
their ideas and suggestions.
The new school is to be built on the
existing site and offers the
opportunity to improve upon the
previous facilities. The proposed
design responds to the topography of
the site, the prevailing weather
conditions and the multi-purpose /
community use of the building.
The Site:
The building has
been designed to respond to the
natural slope of the site by
creating two levels, with the taller
assembly hall space placed at the
lower level in order to reduce the
impact of its roof on the village
skyline. The circular classroom wing
follows the path of the sun and
allows each classroom a share of the
natural sunlight.
Zoning:
Separate zones have been created to
allow for easier management of the
building. The teaching wing and
main pupil areas are situated to the
south, while the nursery facility is
placed adjacent to the infant
classes’ but still allows for
separate access for parents during
school hours. The administrative,
non-teaching areas are grouped at
the front of the building to monitor
access. The community wing is
located at the north end of the
site, closest to the entrance and
the car park to ensure vehicles and
pupils are kept as far apart as
possible
Facilities:
There will be
five classrooms, wrapped around a
central library, each with a
designated activity area. The
nursery has its own direct access,
cloakroom and kitchen facilities.
It also has an office and a
separate, segregated external play
area. The new hall includes
changing facilities and is adjacent
to the dining room and kitchen.
The External spaces:
Children need to use the land around
their school during break times and
these have been designed to be as
safe as possible. An external hard
play area has been included to allow
for play in all weathers with
external seating for those quieter
moments. All vehicular access has
been moved to the north of the site,
clearly segregating children and
vehicles and improving safety. The
existing wooded area and site
boundaries will be improved with
better planting to increase the
bio-diversity of plants and
wildlife, providing an opportunity
to utilise these areas for outdoor
educational activities.
The Building:
As
with all new Council properties, the
design will have improved standards
of insulation and energy efficient
heating and lighting systems to
reduce
ongoing revenue costs. It is
intended that the external walls of
the building will
use recycled natural stone, hardwood
cladding and cement render to
respond
to the other buildings in the
surrounding area.
Timescale:
Preliminary works
will begin in the wooded area to
improve this prior to April
2007. There will also be some
additional perimeter planting
undertaken at
this time to give these plants an
opportunity to become established by
the
time the school is ready for
occupation.
Main
building construction work will
commence at the end of Summer 2007
and the school will be ready for
occupation in August 2008.
If you would like to view the site
plan and the zoning plan for the new
village school then click on the
links below..
SITE PLAN (Adobe acrobat
document - 1.27mb)
ZONING PLAN (Adobe acrobat
document - 853kb)
WALKTHROUGH VIDEO (windows media
player - 5.3mb) a reduced version
for the internet means the quality
is not as good as it should be but
if you 'squint' your eyes it helps!
Many thanks to the SBC Architects
for this information |
