Boroughmuir High School

The client brief asked for an ‘exemplar’ of school design both inspirational and innovative.  The site was a tight, sloping, inner-city brownfield site that had previously been a brewery.  Our innovative approach created a highly identifiable civic image of the school within an efficient and compact building whilst also delivering exciting and creative learning spaces.  Central  to the building’s organisation is the communal atrium space - the ’heart’ that gives the school a strong sense of identity and organises the main movement and combines positive and clear curricular department adjacencies.  The atrium allows pupils and teachers alike to feel that they all can be together as a ‘school'.  The building addresses positively the canal location and offers the community a new public ‘place’ that is flexible, high quality and truly urban, enhancing urban connectivity for pedestrians and cyclist alike.  An exciting feature is a roof level sports pitch demonstrates our innovative and exciting design approach.  The user response has been resoundingly positive and our feedback from the clients, staff and students users is that the solution exceeded the expectations in every way.  The clients were satisfied that the design set a new standard and was an exemplar eduction building.