This new mixed Academy, sponsored by the Skinners Company, was procured under the PfS Academies Framework with Studio E Architects to the Contractor, Willmott Dixon. Sited on the edge of Woodberry Down Regeneration Development, on a sloping site overlooking the New River in North Hackney, the new school provides accommodation for 1150 secondary students. The striking contemporary design, carefully crafted into the landscape, makes an aspirational statement for school and community, responding to being in the vanguard of the Woodberry Down Development and seeking to underpin the high achieving educational vision focused on 'business & enterprise', sports facilities, internal and external, as well as a performing arts forum have been zoned to facilitate extended community use and the sloping site is exploited to create exciting interiors interlinked with a cascade of recreational spaces. A strong passive philosophy underpins the design with 'mini' atria delivering daylight, natural ventilation as well as providing hub spaces and dramatic views. The scheme has achieved a BREEAM 'very good' rating.
- Client: Willmott Dixon/London Borough of Hackney
- Value: £26.0 million
- Completion Date: 2010
