St Joan of Arc Catholic Primary School, Highbury, London

The school had an awkward, unused space to the rear of their existing halls and wanted to make use of this area. The compact site adjoined a private Victorian mews and faced the side elevation of St Joan of Arc Church. This contained some outdated circulation and storage structures and was unkempt. The school also had a problematic access control strategy and some external WCs still in use form when the buildings were constructed in the 1960s.

ZRP developed a solution to demolish parts of the existing ancillary spaces and extend the accommodation right up to the boundary along two sides as well as building into the existing hall to make better use of the space. The resultant extension provides a new dedicated entrance for use out of hours, by the community and other groups such as for teaching conferences and allows more intensive use of the school facilities and provides for new and increased revenue streams. A new reception / office and waiting area, new toilets, meeting room and group teaching space have also been provided, along with external canopies and other works. The proposals have been built in phases to suit the available funding and a large teaching kitchen and further storage areas are now planned for a further phase.

A full programme of community consultation was undertaken to support the development of the proposals which obtained approval through Planning Committee.

The external treatment took inspiration from the varied brick detailing of the adjacent church and uses a mix of bonds with a well-articulated elevation in a complimentary brick and the proposal stiches neatly into the compact local urban grain. Internally, the brick detailing is carried though with exposed walls and transposed to the brick paved entrance foyer. Exposed hardwood timber joists, columns and structural detailing further enliven the space and reflect the original architecture and use of the mews.