Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) appointed Coulson Building Group alongside Ingletonwood, to complete the design and construction of a three Primary School expansion project. Codicote Primary School, near Welwyn, was the third and comprised a 1 Form of Entry (1FE) expansion, doubling the size of the School and consisted of a new 8-classroom block, works to the existing school, car park expansion and associated landscape works.
The School expansion was in direct response to the newly approved adjacent housing developments within Codicote and to support this future growth in population. As part of a Section 106 agreement to this housing approval HCC and the School were provided land to create additional playing fields for which Ingleton Wood consulted extensively with Sport England.
The completed teaching block consists of 8 new classrooms with learning support space, surrounding landscape works, extended car parking and suitable proposals for sports pitches on the main, south field of the School. Considerable engagement with the School and other stakeholders informed the brief for the new block and the ethos of the design. A core value from the School was to create a centrally shared, open space used as a multi-functional teaching area through which free movement is encouraged.
Great importance was given to sustainable issues during the design and construction, aspiring to and finally achieving BREEAM excellent. The green roof extends to form a canopy all around the building providing shelter for outdoor play and shade for solar gain control. The design was progressed to form a centralised atrium space still within the BB103 guideline areas. To add quality to the space, additional volume was proposed which also proved sustainably beneficial promoting natural ventilation with passive airflow through classrooms, into the atrium and out through the high-level windows and vice-versa in opposite seasons. The glazing and building orientation also decreases solar gain requiring less mechanically controlled heating.
The School were ‘absolutely delighted’ with the end result.
