HLM designed, state-of-the-art school campus opens
Wood View Learning Community, the new school campus in Plymouth, designed by HLM Architects and constructed by Interserve, has its official opening on 4 December.
Wood View Learning Community is Plymouth City Council's showcase for its pledge to put education at the heart of the community. HLM Architects designed the £28 million campus including the refurbishment of existing buildings and 13,000 sq m of newly built facilities for construction and maintenance by Interserve.
“The real challenge of designing the Wood View campus was to meet the needs of five different schools, their head teachers, staff and pupils,” HLM Architects’ Director and head of education Caroline Buckingham said. “We held interactive workshops and discussions to understand their individual requirements. We allocated an architect to lead the consultation with each school to ensure personal dedicated representation. This brought ideas to a point where diagrams and sketches were used to explore a variety of design ideas that met, or in some cases challenged, the requirements of all the individual educational briefs.”
John Butcher Director of Campus added: “The learning environments are an inspiration to students and adults alike. Our community is very lucky to have an iconic building where aspirations are raised and fresh achievements realised.”
HLM used its in-house sustainability team of engineers and environmental planning software to address energy-use, daylight and ventilation issues from early concept design stage. Some of the existing buildings were retained and are fully integrated within the new school. The building height is limited to two storeys to reduce energy use and the need for vertical circulation. The use of timber composite windows, timber cladding and local slate, has reduced the energy use of construction elements and supported local suppliers.
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