Balgores Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) School is a new-build school on a greenfield site in the London Borough of Havering. When complete, it becomes one of the largest special needs schools in the UK, providing places for 300 pupils aged 4-19 with autism and other complex learning needs.
The school includes specialist facilities such as a sports hall, performing arts spaces and a hydrotherapy pool, alongside outdoor areas designed for sensory, social and active play. A woodland buffer increases biodiversity and contributes to the character of the site.
Price & Myers provide structural and civil engineering services, joining the project at RIBA Stage 2. With a fixed programme and budget, and a building designed to meet BREEAM standards, our early involvement helps shape a construction approach that can be delivered efficiently and with confidence.
Structural engineering
The building is formed around classroom wings and larger shared spaces. Early testing of structural options compares steel, concrete and composite frames using our PANDA analysis tool. By reviewing a typical classroom layout, we demonstrate that a reinforced concrete frame offers advantages in cost, embodied carbon and programme, later confirmed by the client’s quantity surveyor.
The classroom wings use a simple, repeatable layout, divided into equal thirds with columns located within partitions to create 6.5m by 6.5m classroom grids. Larger spaces, including the sports hall and dining areas, are framed using down stand concrete beams and perimeter concrete walls. Exposed circular columns in the dining spaces reduce spans and are coordinated with the interior layout.
A reinforced concrete raft foundation is adopted following a review of ground conditions and foundation options. This approach reduces excavation and construction time and is developed through the subsequent project stages.
Civil engineering
Civil engineering input begins at Stage 2 and includes the drainage strategy and flood risk assessment, transport design, highway alterations and site-wide level design.
The drainage strategy follows the London Plan’s hierarchy, using permeable paving, a below-ground attenuation tank beneath the sports pitch and MUGA, and landscaped features such as swales and raingardens. Surface water discharge is restricted to greenfield runoff rates. New surface and foul sewer connections are made within the adjacent road at depths of up to 6 metres, beneath a mature oak tree and within a busy highway.
The site access and car park accommodate staff parking, bus drop-off and private vehicles while supporting sustainable travel. The layout separates car and bus movements, and highway works include a raised table at the entrance, widened footways and an extension of the local 20mph zone.
Delivery
Balgores SEND School opens for the 2027 school year, providing much-needed specialist education provision in Havering. The project is developed through close collaboration across the design team to deliver a carefully considered school environment.
