Price & Myers are collaborating with architects Walters & Cohen on the winning competition design to re-imagine the North London Collegiate School (NLCS) campus, and help the school achieve their ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Phase One of the masterplan includes a new two-storey academic building - the Ideas Hub – for the study of innovation, design, engineering art and science. Motivated by the desire to integrate different STEAM subjects into a common learning space, the proposed teaching block will nestle between and link into existing buildings, creating a cohesive space by joining the previously separated classrooms.
The school is an independent day school for 14-18 years old girls. Formerly part of Canon’s Park, the new building’s form and materiality have been carefully considered to complement the existing surrounding structures. Many structural features have been designed to be expressed in the architectural composition. Hard concrete surfaces contrast with the warm oak trusses forming the roof.
A green oak canopy wraps around the north end of the building, creating a sheltered gateway into the school site. The existing buildings are of varying structural condition, requiring a sympathetic approach to the strengthening and alterations, particularly to proximate listed buildings.
As well as the new Ideas Hub, the project involves the extension to an existing Tractor Barn building, to improve facilities and create additional spaces for staff. Extensive landscaping works are also proposed, creating a new entrance to the school site.
As part of our services, we also designed the site’s below-ground drainage system. This incorporates key SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) features to promote a more sustainable drainage solution in response to existing site constraints. Permeable paving is designed in the new parking areas which provide attenuation storage and water quality benefits. An existing pond on the site was re-modelled to take the new surface flows and was shown to have adequate spare capacity to allow a significant reduction in post-development run-off rates.
