Rossett Acre Primary School New Classrooms – Harrogate
Red Kite Learning Trust
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed a new teaching building for Rossett Acre, a successful two-form entry primary school on the south side of Harrogate, part of the Red Kite Learning Trust.
Involved throughout the duration of the project, we initially provided feasibility designs to secure Condition Improvement Funding (CIF) to replace two existing temporary classrooms that had deteriorated beyond economical repair. We then went on to create the concept designs, planning and tender drawings before novation to the contractor, SCS Projects Ltd, to deliver the working drawing package.
The new building accommodates two new classrooms and adjacent WC facilities for children aged 10-11 years old in Year 6 designed to give pupils a sense of independence in preparation for their journey onto secondary school.
The new block needed to be the maximum build size of 152m² for compliance with the funding criteria. Balancing this requirement with the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) minimum area sizes and the school’s unique teaching ethos presented its own challenges to create the maximum usable space.
Rossett Acre School wanted the ability to open up the two classrooms to create one larger space to bring the pupils together for collaborative teaching across the year group. We achieved this by locating class bases adjacent each other with a direct link between the two teaching spaces to allow for larger group activities to take place between the year group.
The building design and orientation maximise natural daylight into the teaching spaces from the south elevation while reducing solar heat gain via the projecting roof canopy. Underfloor heating was provided via an air source heat pump.