These two new build schools were secured in tandem as winners of a PFI design competition which highly commended our designs for their educational and contextual response to difficult sites. Bangor Academy is the larger of the two schools at 19,500m2 and is the amalgamation of Bangor Girls High School and Gransha High School to form this new school with a full complement of teaching suites for 1650 pupils. Located in the centre of Bangor its 3-storey sweeping entrance has become a landmark whilst its clever split-level design optimised a restricted site by resolving an 8m level difference.
Nendrum College is a smaller 3-storey co-education school catering for 450 pupils aged 11-16yrs. Designed and delivered on the exiting site, whilst the original school remained operational, the final solution utilised the site area and shape to provide the optimum mix of external plays areas and sports pitches whilst also mitigating flood plain issues. In addition, we adopted a “school in the community ethos” by integrating a Community Youth Wing into the design which is accessible in the evenings and weekends.
Optimising the “school in the community” ethos were big design influencers on these successful PFI schemes. It was the added value factor which the Education Authority highlighted as the winning formula to these PFI bids. Benefits we provided include:
