This project involves the delivery of a mixed Academy with Willmott Dixon for the Learning Trust in Hackney and the Skinners' Company. Set within the Woodberry Down Regeneration Project and procured under the PfS Academies Framework, the school provides accommodation for 900 secondary students and 250 sixth form students on the banks of the New River in North London. The design provides an exciting and inspiring learning environment for the extended community with a zoned arrangement permitting out of hours access to a central learning resource area, Sports Centre, dining area and performing arts spaces.
The Skinners' Academy consists of a full range of teaching accommodation with specialist teaching and support facilities to stringent technical requirements. These are set out in a flexible open campus arrangement with ‘Learning Zones' arranged over four levels, strong visual connections to the external landscape and light well's maximising daylight. This is emphasised within the central 'forum'. A sloping site provided a number of challenges which have been exploited to step the building down towards the river creating a series of landscaped terraces offering a variety of amenity spaces. These have been articulated to provide a series of recreational spaces and outdoor teaching zones, culminating in a stimulating education environment for the local community.
- Client: Willmott Dixon/London Borough of Hackney
- Value: £26.0 million
- Completion Date: 2010
