Alfreton Park Community Special School is a new facility built in the grounds of Alfreton Hall in Derbyshire. It serves children and young people with special educational needs, from nursery age through to young adulthood. The school is made up of four buildings arranged along a hillside: two teaching blocks, a shared hall and dining area with a sheltered courtyard between them, and a separate reception and staff building.
The site presented two main challenges. First, the ground had been used for open-cast mining in the past, leaving up to 9 metres of loose backfill below the surface, with voids in deeper seams identified through a grid survey. To handle this, the buildings are supported on piles that pass through the unstable fill down into solid rock below. The piles are specially reinforced to cope with the downward drag that loose ground can exert. A ventilated void beneath the floor stops any ground gases from building up inside. Second, a number of veteran oak trees stood on or close to the site and had to be carefully protected throughout the project.
The school hall has a pitched roof with exposed timber and steel trusses spaced at regular intervals, which also support beams that extend into the rooms alongside, reducing the need for extra columns. The classroom and reception wings use a steel frame with widely spaced columns, giving open, flexible floor space with room for built-in storage. External canopies are connected to the main structure with thermal breaks to reduce heat loss.
There are no mains sewers close to the site, so rainwater is managed on-site, slowed down to natural drainage rates and released into a nearby ditch. Permeable paving and a planned pond also help manage surface water in line with sustainable drainage standards.
Around 80% of the students use wheelchairs, and the whole layout has been designed with this in mind. Specialist rooms including physiotherapy and sensory spaces sit next to the classrooms, separated by a run of furniture that doubles as storage and seating. Classrooms look out over open countryside and open directly onto the playgrounds.
