Thomas Telford School
Brief Overview
The proposed brief is to construct a new two-storey primary school (the Thomas Telford Primary Free School) on land at the heart of the Miller Homes East Priorslee residential development to the East of Telford. The East Priorslee development will deliver a local village centre and the new school will form a key part of this local centre.
The new school will offer two forms of entry (2FE) per year providing 420 primary school places in total, along with a 26 place nursery.
The new school building will provide modern internal and external facilities to support a high quality learning environment which will be grounded in nature and net zero carbon in operation.
The Site
The proposed site sits to the south east of the proposed local centre, as shown on the red line plan below. The site slopes upwards from its north east corner to its south west corner and consequently, it will be necessary to split the levels such that a higher plateau will exist to accommodate the sports pitches and a lower plateau to accommodate the school building, playground and car park.
School Site Within the East Priorslee Development
The Team
Reds10 are a leading modular and volumetric contractor who have been appointed as the main contractor for the new Primary School, in partnership with the Department for Education. With a wealth of experience in the Education Sector. Reds10 are developing new schools as part of the Department for Education’s Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Framework across the UK. The team’s appointment on the scheme resulted from a successful track record, exemplary health and safety standards and consistency in providing amazing spaces for clients, end users and local communities.
Sense of Space is a Chartered Architects Practice with more than 20 years of experience designing award winning buildings for the education sector.
We have worked with Reds10 from their earliest foray into the volumetric industry in relation to schools and subsequently within their team on the Department for Education’s MMC Framework, leading the design and client engagement process whilst working closely with a team of expert consultants, each well versed in the methods associated with volumetric construction.
DHA Planning are planning consultants who will oversee the planning application on behalf of Reds10 and the Department for Education. DHA have a wealth of experience in the education sector, securing planning consent for a number of new schools, including many primary schools, across England.
The Proposals
The proposals are funded by the Department for Education and follow their detailed design requirements and guidance to ensure that the academy comprises the type and quality of teaching accommodation necessary to meet best practice standards.
The proposed development is for the construction of a new Primary School within the wider Castle Farm Way/Priorslee development to meet the demand for new school places. The proposed development will provide new build teaching accommodation across two storeys on the site.
Reds10 have been selected as the preferred contractor to deliver the academy in partnership with the Department for Education, the Trust and the School and as such are developing the proposals and design with a view to submitting a planning application in the near future. The development will include the following elements across the site:
- New 2-storey school building
- Soft and hard external play areas
- Soccer Pitches and Tennis Courts
- Habitat Area
Site Layout
The new school building is located to the north east of the site. To the very north eastern corner of the site is the main staff car park area and mini bus parking area. Withing this parking area and main entrance, other facilities include large bin store area, air source heat pump, turning circles, building service area, visitor and disabled parking.
The site can be access by other footpaths which include the vehicle drop off area and footpath to the north west of the site and the main school entrance to the north of the site. The remainder of the site is for soft and hard social areas, a nursery area informal habitat and meadow areas, a hard surface MUGA pitch (multi use games area) and maintained grass sports pitches.
Internal Layout
The internal layout has been designed following a thorough engagement process with the senior leadership team at the school, the school trust and consultants to the DfE. The new school is arranged over 2 floors with classrooms either side of a central corridor.
The main visitor entrance is located to the north elevation. Locked doors on an access control system form a secure line which prevents visitors from entering the school without staff supervision. During arrival and departure, pupils will predominantly access the school through a gate off the main entrance to the northern boundary, which leads around the building to the playground. There are secondary access points from the north west and south east corners of the site alongside the playing fields leading to the playground. Separate entrances to the building are provided for different year groups. The proposed Main Hall and Entrance are located towards the east, near to the carpark and vehicular site entrance. This allows for community use outside of school hours via the visitor entrance.
A wide central corridor provides horizontal access to classrooms located on either side. Practical teaching for Design Technology will be located on the first floor. A suite of group rooms will be provided for SEN teaching, providing facilities for 1 to 1 learning. Storage for coats and bags will be provided within dedicated storage areas adjoining each classroom.
Ground floor plan
First floor plan
External Design
The new school building will comprise 3 main elements: the activity studio, the assembly hall and the teaching accommodation, each with a different height. The volume will be broken down further with a projecting entrance and canopy, creating a welcoming environment for visitors to the school. The external appearance of the new school building has been developed around a concept that uses a palette of brickwork with brown and green cladding colours to support the School Trust’s desire to adopt a biophilic approach and appearance.
The building is clad with a combination of brickwork and cement fibre panels. Muted green panels will be used alongside the entrance, on stair towers and in vertical strips to break down the mass of the building on its two longest elevations. Areas around the entrance, the activity studio and assembly hall will be clad in cement fibre panels which will give the appearance of vertical timber boards.
Aluminium windows and external doors will be powder coated to a dark grey colour. To meet rigorous environmental targets, the design needs to incorporate horizontal shading along the southern façade to prevent overheating in classrooms.
View of proposed entrance from the village centre (North)
Landscaping
The landscape design will enhance the school site with numerous areas and facilities that can be used by all. For example new hard and soft surfaced areas can be used for sports provisions, natural play and social engagement. The more informal rain garden, natural meadows and ecological habit areas will provide quite areas for learning and interaction. Hard surfaced areas allow easy access and movement around the building and link paths will connect the new building to the rest of the site and wider areas.
The playground areas shall be edged and defined by a variety of soft landscape treatments including native trees, hedgerow, shrubs, groundcovers, and grasses to provide visual interest, biodiversity gains and ecological/horticultural teaching opportunities.
A new internal fence line will be installed to secure the external playground space and create clear separation between the playground areas, car parking and playing field areas. The site as a whole will also have an appropriate boundary treatment including an acoustic fence.
Sustainability & Building Performance
Thomas Telford Free School is being developed to be sustainably designed and constructed. The target of minimising the ecological impact of building services systems on the environment are to be achieved through careful modelling of building performance and energy, from the project inception to the detailed design work stages. This building performance design hierarchy follows the principles of; be lean, be clean, be green and be seen.
Intelligent selection of building fabric materials, building orientation, glazed opening sizes and space geometry, all contribute toward minimising heating and electrical energy input. This is achieved by providing a highly insulated building, to minimise heat loss in the winter; contrasted by large solar controlled glazed openings which provide high levels of daylight to the occupants. This helps to provide a low energy, naturally lit working environment whilst simultaneously limiting solar heat gain and maintaining thermal comfort.
The school building is to follow the Department for Education Standard of achieving Net Zero Carbon, whilst in operation. The efficient building fabric specification reduces the energy required by the building services systems and low and zero carbon technologies, used for heating and energy generation, such as an Air Source Heat Pump system for heating and photovoltaic panels as part of a bio-diverse green roof.
Occupied spaces will benefit from fresh air, providing consistent air quality within the building, that maintains low Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). This is achieved via opening windows, passive stacks and hybrid ventilation systems that recover heating energy and provide constant fresh air throughout the day. High temperatures in the summer can be mitigated with boost / purge and by-pass functions, built into the ventilation units.
Dynamic Simulation Modelling has been utilised to inform the concept and developed design, in relation to daylight, thermal comfort and summertime overheating, and energy and operational carbon. These results have carried through to building fenestration and building services design. Below is a screenshot from the dynamic simulation software used for Thomas Telford Free School.
Access & Parking
The site is accessed from numerous locations around the site to allow sufficient flow around the school and easy access from the surrounding areas and neighbourhoods. For example a substantial and attractive pedestrian path accesses the site from the northwest corner (this area also includes parent vehicle drop off and turning area) and the main pedestrian entrance from the north of the schools main building. The main staff carpark including 48x parking bays, 1x minibus and 3x visitor parking areas are accessed from the north east corner of the site. Around the site numerous cycle parking areas are provided to provide easy and safe bike parking.
Construction
Reds10 specialise in modular construction allowing the majority of building work to be undertaken in the off-site factory in Driffield, East Yorkshire. The work undertaken off-site predominately features the completion of modular superstructures, floors, ceilings, internal walls, glazing and roof construction. This process greatly reduces the time required on-site, thus minimising disruption as much as possible to neighbours as well as facilitating the construction process.
We aim to reduce any disruption to the local community, and we will hold monthly drop-in sessions where residents are able to engage with our site management team and ask any questions they may have.
Next Steps
A public consultation event was being held at Redhill Primary School on the 14th July 2023.
All comments received will be received by the design team and considered in the application, alongside comments received from the Council. Public comments will be considered to help form the final scheme that will be formally submitted for planning approval. The planning application is anticipated for submission in Summer 2023. As part of the application determination process, the council will formally consult residents and other bodies. This does not affect your right to submit formal comments on the planning application during the planning application consultation period.