RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist: Burntwood School

UK Construction Media takes a closer look at the RIBA National Award winning building that’s been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2015.

Burntwood School is a large girls’ academy in located in south London. The £40.9M building was constructed for Wandsworth Borough Council by Lend Lease and represents one of the final projects to be developed under the Building Schools for the Future scheme that was scrapped under the Coalition government in 2010.

The aim of the construction was to provide an exciting learning environment that is fully equipped to deliver an excellent education to students. The scheme was developed by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHHM), working in close collaboration with Lend Lease, Wandsworth Borough Council and the school itself.

The building work was completed in three phases, with 85% of the school being rebuilt and the main hall and gym block also being refurbished.

Burntwood School (c) Timothy Soar

On 18th June, Burntwood School won a RIBA National Award and as such, was put forward for the RIBA Stirling prize, before making the final shortlist of six buildings. The winner is to be announced in October.

Praising the new Burntwood school buildings, RIBA said: ‘This is a truly collaborative project in which mature architects with deep understanding and experience of what makes for a good school, working with landscapers who believe that a light touch can transform an existing landscape, and a graphic artist whose work has long made way-finding an art form in AHHM projects, to produce one last hurrah for the Building Schools for the Future programme.

‘These are buildings with great force. A modular pre-cast concrete cladding, using eight different moulds, with canted edges and different sized glazing panels is playfully arranged on a rigid grid creating surprising interior spaces. The rooms are gracious and full of light, and there are many double, even triple-height spaces. Internal corridors all end in well-framed views. This is education architecture as it should be.’

Burntwood School (c) Rob Parrish

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