Holy Innocents Catholic Primary School, Croydon – Masterplan

Refurbishment

Holy Innocents Catholic Primary School, Croydon is the result of a desire to grow the school and address planning and functionality issues while simultaneously improving the school’s image and bringing it into the 21st century. The project was designed with future use and expansion in mind, a focus on creating a street presence and creating flexible learning areas that meet current and future requirements.

The design commenced with a thorough investigation into how the school functions as a whole. From there the project scope was refined to provide the necessities to meet the school’s immediate requirements. The challenging client brief called for large open learning environments, where up to four class groups could be taught in one open space, while also allowing for the flexibility to have small private zones for self-directed learning, with the key to the success of this space being the acoustic performance. The final design was a result of working closely with the acoustic engineer and the outcome was non-standard interventions to the space that ensured the space was user friendly and could be used as intended while still meeting the tight budget and program.

The refurbishment of Block A focused on relocating the reception from the playground to the front of the school separating it from student reception and improving surveillance. The library now inhabits the previous admin space providing a more central location, easily accessible by students.

Block B produced open plan GLAs with built in flexibility to allow for different stages to be taught collectively or individually and uses furnishings to allow students to create varied learning zones. Indoor and outdoor learning spaces were linked through a transitional zone to extend the classroom. While the façade was redesigned to break up the repetitive proportions of the existing façade.