Fordbridge Community Primary School

Crabtree Drive, Birmingham, United Kingdom

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Lawley Village Primary Academy

Fordbridge Community Primary School

Crabtree Drive, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Firm

BCHN architects

Type

Educational › Elementary School Other

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2015

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$5M - 10M

Fordbridge Community Primary School, in Chelmsley Wood, North Solihull is a new 2.5 form entry Primary School (for 540 children) with a school nursery, a Full Day Care Centre and community provision. The school is organised into 3 distinct teaching phases, with classrooms arranged around shared activity hubs. As the new school replaced an existing 1960’s system build school the opportunity existed to build a close relationship between the design team and the end users.

Solihull MBC (along with the North Solihull Partnership) was the client. They were fully committed to a full engagement with both the school and the local community. This enabled the design team to work very closely with both client and users in formulating the brief and the building design. Throughout 2011 and 2012 design workshops and consultations were held with the various clients, users, parents, children and the wider community. The design of the school has evolved through a very careful development of the design brief followed by detailed participation and consultation.

The new school is in one of the 10% most deprived areas in England. The wider community is characterized by high levels of deprivation, unemployment and low aspirations. Solihull is generally thought of as a prosperous area, however north Solihull has major health and economic inequalities in relation to the south of the Borough - 17.2% of people in Chelmsley Wood live in overcrowded houses.

The client vision is for ‘a creative and innovative school; that serves all of it’s children, families and local community.’ The school provides a community focus and a range of extended community facilities including adult learning. Provision is offered for babies and toddlers, along with a ‘wraparound’ out of school club. ‘Our school will be a community hub that enables all members of the community to engage in lifelong learning, The school is seen as a safe and supportive haven that will be instrumental in developing community cohesion.’ (Client Brief).

In brief, the environmental strategy is through fabric first and passive systems - high levels of insulation, natural ventilation, solar shading through extended roofs and canopies and natural light.