Consistently ranked top independent school by the Sunday Times, St Paul’s Girls’ School is educating some of the future’s brightest stars.
And they want to aim higher – providing a 21st century learning environment that will encourage more women to lead in design, technology and engineering.
We were tasked to undertake a comprehensive tendering exercise to appoint a new design team and appointed as project managers for the construction of this new learning environment – a modern, sustainable, cutting-edge studio and, designed sympathetic to the character of Edwardian buildings elsewhere on campus. Additionally, a new three-storey Staff Hub building will consolidate teaching into one open-plan, agile working space, improving communication and pastoral care.
Bidwells first task was to undertake a scoping exercise to re-evaluate and reprioritise the building programme considering the school’s evolving needs. The output of the scoping exercise has provided a strategic pathway forward to addressing the school’s emerging curriculum and pastoral needs. This involved the development of existing masterplan ideas as well as posing new options given feedback from stakeholders.
The project encompassed refurbishment of the existing main building, including a new well-being space with counselling and medical suites, a new reception, as well as a more visible High Mistress’s office embedded centrally in the school, complementing her ‘open door’ philosophy.
Phases 2/3 delivered a new Centre for Creative Learning within a repurposed former swimming pool building, which latterly has been used as a design technology classroom and school maintenance team workshop. To re-use this space and structure, it required extensive structural investigations and design, whilst feeding into broader design themes such as addressing differing site levels to aid better accessibility. The project includes state-of-the-art audio, visual and acoustic design to create an immersive experience for the students using it.
The creation of a new Staff Hub (Phases 4/5) to consolidate all existing staff and utilise the existing vacant space created by Phase I. Consolidating staff from their current dispersed form into a new staff hub will free space within the main building which can be reallocated for teaching space and utilisation by students. It will also allow for staff to have input on a ‘staff space for the future’ and will allow them to input into purpose designed space to enhance their working environment.
With unanimous approval, this project achieved planning in less than a year of appointing the design team.
I strongly recommend this team with Bidwells... I have been very happy indeed with their work ethic and approach to a highly demanding and complicated brief.
Get in touch with our team
Neil Cole
Partner, Project Management
Neil is an outstanding project manager whose diverse skills ensure that he can oversee a project from many angles.
