Schools & Colleges
Creating Better Spaces For Learning
School’s shape everyone. We design and refurbish all types of schools and colleges to create inspiring, flexible and sustainable learning environments for the next generation.
Footprint Architects recognise that well considered educational school design can enable children and young people to achieve their potential and support positive learning outcomes for all. Successful school design can provide an uplifting learning environment, that can effectively support educational activities, whilst minimising operational burdens.
As specialists in creating educational spaces, we understand how top-quality design shapes experiences at school. Our award-winning projects focus on meeting the needs of the students, helping them be the best they can be.
Special Educational Needs SEN Design Specialists
Our special educational needs expertise ranges from the refurbishment of mainstream schools to provide satellite provisions within mainstream existing schools to new build SEN. Our education architects are experienced in designing schools that cater for a wide range of learning needs, including:
- Alternative Provision AP
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health SEMH
- Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties PMLD
- Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD
- Special Resource Provision SRP
Peter Ward, the practice director, has specialised school building design for several decades and is an RIBA Client Adviser in the education sector.
Expertise in Educational Design
- Refurbishing and repurposing school buildings
- RIBA Client Advisor
- Strategic masterplanning of the existing school estate and future growth
- SEN schools, including alternative provision
- Immersive sensory learning environments and pupil referral units
- Technical design advice
- Early Years Foundation Stage, primary school and secondary school expansions
- Sixth form and college developments
- Modern methods of construction and prefabricated school builds
- Carbon Zero and Passive house standard buildings
Net Zero Carbon Schools
Our education architects are committed to developing schools and colleges that are environmentally conscious and respond positively to the climate emergency. We believe that all schools should be low energy, zero carbon, cheap to run and easy to maintain. Sustainable school building design is good for both the planet and the future of our young people.
Our Schools & Colleges Projects
A vibrant Post 16 centre that promotes independence for young people with autism spectrum disorder ASD
Award winning entrance pavilion & expansion of a grade II listed victorian school
RIBA Client Advisor
Peter Ward, our RIBA accredited design advisor for education, defines the brief for the team. He’ll be on hand throughout the design and construction stages as the Footprint Architects team bring your design to life.
Our specialist experience:
- Strategic decision-making and formulating the brief
- Stakeholder consultation and design brief development
- Feasibility studies and development of option appraisals
- Review of contractors’ proposals and construction stage
- Progress reviews and periodic inspection of quality and compliance during the construction process
Prefabricated Modular Classrooms or Bespoke School Buildings?
We understand that a one-size-fits all approach may not be right for every school, but that a bespoke design may not be feasible either. At Footprint Architects we will work closely with you to determine the most appropriate school design solution to meet your aspirations and budget. We have designed and offered technical advice on a variety of different types of school construction, including:
- Modern Methods of Construction MMC
- Offsite Manufacture
- Prefabricated Classrooms
- Modular School Buildings
- Cross Laminated Timber CLT
- Timber Frame
- Steel Frame
- Concrete Frame
- Traditional Masonry
- Net Zero Carbon School Buildings
Our approach to good school design
1. Robust Feasibility Study
The most important design decisions are those made at the start of a school project. From trees to access, heritage to budget, every educational architecture project has its own unique opportunities and constraints. Through a considered feasibility study and masterplanning we can work to explore all of the different options and assess viability to reduce your risk and unlock the hidden potential.
2. Passive Design
Implementing the simplest low energy, passive design decisions from the outset helps ensure that schools energy consumption and carbon emissions are reduced. Footprint Architects adopt a fabric-first approach to all new school buildings that we design.
Enhancing the building fabric and airtightness to LETI or Passivhaus standards is a simple but highly effective measure in reducing energy consumption and in achieving Net Zero Carbon in Use. This low-tech approach ensures that the schools we create are easy to operate, have low running costs, are simple to maintain, and are healthy and comfortable environments to learn in.
Our Approach to Passive School Design
- Use of high levels of insulation to keep the heat in, enabling heating demand to be reduced by as much as 90%
- Maximise airtightness and avoid thermal bridging to meet Passivhaus standards.
- Position windows to maximise heating from the sun in the winter
- Use thermal mass to store and slowly release heat in the winter
- Use thermal mass to keep the heat out in the summer
- Position the building to maximise shading and reduce the need for air conditioning or cooling in the summer
- Orientate the long side of the building to face the south, with minimal east-west facing windows to reduce prevailing wind chill and excessive summer heat gains
- Use fresh air to naturally ventilate a building
- Utilise existing trees to provide natural shading in the summer months
3. Access to the Nature
Nature is vitally important to the development and welling of all children. Our architects look for every opportunity to integrate indoor and outdoor play, by creating external breakout spaces accessed directly from classrooms. Offering students the opportunity for safe and direct access to outdoor play, sensory gardens and even community farms enables children to develop social skills and motives learning.
4. Natural Daylighting
An abundance of natural daylight, with minimal glare, can create an engaging and healthy learning environment. The use of natural daylighting can reduce the reliance on artificial lighting, improve pupil wellbeing, reduce energy consumption and help to achieve net zero carbon in operation.
The use of large windows down to floor level and glazed external doors directly from the classroom spaces increases natural lighting, whilst animating the building at child height, creating spaces that allows pupils to explore and connect with the outside. We also recommend the use of roof lights to provide north light, increase natural ventilation and offer greater privacy for the classrooms over windows in the facade.
5. Simple and flexible school design
Simplicity is one of the most important qualities of good educational design, and critical to ensuring that school buildings are good value and easy to use. The easier buildings are to procure, construct, manage, repair, operate and maintain, the more likely they are to operate efficiently and effectively.
RIBA research has shown that providing a variety of flexible social and self-directed learning spaces, that enable students to breakout from the classroom, can have a positive impact on pupil engagement. Educational design lends itself to simple, regular and repeated layouts, offering schools flexibility for the future
Allowing students the opportunity to influence colours or play spaces can provide them with a sense of identity and belonging, safely engaging them with the build process and helping them transition to their new environment.
6. Pupil Engagement
Students are at the heart of every special school project. Engaging pupils and staff from an early design stage is key to successful educational school design. We participate in assemblies and run 3D workshops, using the latest VR headsets to allow students the opportunity to experience their new school all before a brick has been laid.
Allowing students the opportunity to influence colours or play spaces can provide them with a sense of identity and belonging, safely engaging them with the build process and helping them transition to their new environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What expertise do you have Educational Design?
We have worked with multiple schools and organisations for over a decade to design successful schools. Just some of the organisations and local authorities we have worked with to deliver educational school projects:
- Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council
- Wiltshire Council
- Silverwood School
- Linwood School
- Exeter House School
- Kingdown School
- Manga Academy
- The Eaglewood School
- Morgan Sindall
- Beard Construction
Peter Ward, the practice director, has specialised in school building design for several decades and is an RIBA Client Adviser in the education sector. RIBA Client Advisers are highly trained, experienced architects who can advise on the best approach throughout each stage of a construction project.
What qualifications do you have?
Footprint Architects is an RIBA Chartered Practice, this means we are dedicated to architectural professionalism and ethics and are committed to following the Royal Institute of British Architects Code of Professional Conduct. All of our architects hold the relevant architectural qualifications and are registered with the Architects Registration Board ARB.
Peter Ward, the practice director, has specialised school building design for several decades and is an RIBA Client Adviser in the education sector. RIBA Client Advisers are highly trained, experienced architects who can advise on the best approach throughout each stage of a construction project.
What scale of projects have you experience working on?
Footprint have proven experience and have been working with clients in the education sector ranging from £150,000 extensions to single primary schools, CIF bids and works for academies, masterplanning for multi academy trust, new SEN school provision, school expansion projects for councils up to circa £6m, refurbishing department areas in FE as well as multi million pound new build projects in a Technical Advisor capacity within London. We love to engage with staff and pupils and are currently delivering an ‘emerging technologies’ teaching unit over 3 terms for a school in London.
Does an existing school have to shut to build a new school building?
No, not necessarily. We have designed and safely delivered multiple school building on constrained and live school sites. With careful planning and consideration throughout each design stage, the delivery of the building can be planned and managed to ensure minimal disruption to the school and safeguard pupils, staff and visitors. To find out more, see our Linwood SEN School case study, where we safely provided a new teaching block on a live special school site in just 5 months.
Can you design modular school buildings?
Footprint Architects has successfully worked on and delivered multiple new special school buildings using both traditional and modern methods of construction MMC. This has included:
- Steel Frame Buildings
- Lightweight Steel Frame Systems SFS
- Traditional Masonry Construction
- Modular Buildings
- Cross Laminated Timber CLT (RIBA Client Advisor)
- Concrete Frame Buildings (RIBA Client Advisor)
We work together with the school, local authorities, and design team to select the most appropriate build method for your needs, aspirations and budget. Our priority is to safeguard students, whilst offering the best value and most sustainable school building that we can to meet the needs of the project.
Do you have experience with SEN and alternative provision schools?
Yes, we have completed a number of bespoke autism specific learning environment for post 16 pupils with Asperger’s Syndrome / Higher Functioning Autism, a replacement classroom building for supporting young people with a comprehensive range of special education needs and disabilities, and a 60 place primary school campus designed to cater for children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC).
Get Your Project Off The Ground
Get in touch today to kick-start your project. Let us know a few details and we’ll be in touch to discuss bringing your vision to life.
