Christ Church New Malden, Junior School
This project arose from the need to rebuild a set of structurally deficient 1970s building. As with all school projects the timeframe for design, planning, tender and procurement was critical. In this case the pupils had to relocate to a temporary set of huts on the school playing fields, putting great pressure on the design team to deliver a finished building in the quickest possible time.
Designed and constructed with a very tight educational timeframe and budget, the rebuild of the school at Christ Church New Malden required compact and efficient layouts. The site was surrounded by residential housing and had to fit in with its neighbours, but still perform the functions of a 21st century school.
We undertook extensive local consultation and produced a building that works in sympathy with its original context and at the same time creates a new focus for the school’s identity.
The resulting building, produced via the Design and Build process, achieved a tightly formed and efficient layout with excellent connections between classes and different levels. Externally, the building had to fit in with over sixty residential neighbours and still maintain the character of a new school for education in the 21st century.
When the school reopened in 2013, there was a wonderful acknowledgement of the difference which the building had made to the pupils’ lives in the form of a song they had written. It was called “We love our building”.
One of the challenges set by the client, the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education, was that Christ Church be used as a design template which could be adopted to improve the efficiency of similar school building projects.
Accordingly, it had to be designed to incorporate a variety of alternative construction methods which might potentially be used elsewhere. Although this was a time-consuming undertaking, it provided an opportunity to test our design knowledge and ingenuity.
Christ Church, New Malden Junior School 2011–2012
Client: Governors of Christ Church New Malden
Project Status: Built
Budget: £3m
Team
Nick Baker Architects
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer
Environmental Engineering Partnership
Structural Engineer
The Budgen Partnership
Landscape Architect
JLC Landscaping
Project Manager
Jim Barton Associates