National Architects, GSSArchitecture, have been working closely with Lord Williams’s School and Oxfordshire County Council in order to upgrade accommodation significantly at the school, providing a better-quality learning environment for existing staff and students, whilst accommodating increasing demand for school spaces in the area in line with the school’s plans to offer 12 forms of entry from September 2022.
Founded in 1559, Lord Williams’s School has a rich history and a tradition of excellence. Close collaboration with all stakeholders has therefore been essential throughout the design stage of these enhancements to the school’s estate, ensuring that plans focus on identified areas of improvement, and bring significant benefit to the school and residents of the surrounding area. A number of refurbishment works will be taking place at both the Upper and Lower school, in addition to the construction of new high-quality teaching spaces and a state-of-the-art accessible ICT suite, continuing to develop and improve the range of high-quality teaching and learning facilities on offer at the school.
Lord Williams’s School are immensely excited to share plans for the new English suite on their Oxford Road site, which is set to greatly enhance the accommodation and significantly improve the teaching and learning environment. These planned improvements have been designed to the highest environmental standards, incorporating sustainable technology such as air-source heating and solar cells to generate electricity.
As part of GSSArchitecture’s commitment to health and wellbeing, their dedicated internal working group has been researching and incorporating the latest health and wellbeing design standards into their designs. This focused research has led GSS to place a strong emphasis on the inclusion of high-quality, attractive soft and hard landscaping, with new trees being planted and outdoor learning areas taking full advantage of the green space available to the school. The creation of outdoor learning environments can provide positive health benefits, both physically and mentally, to children and is therefore an important aspect of educational estates moving forward.
In addition to this, the Local Planning Authority have also requested that the works should be carried out to target a BREEAM rating of “Excellent”. The BREEAM rating benchmark levels enable stakeholders to compare an individual building’s sustainability performance against other BREEAM rated buildings, with an “Excellent” rating putting it in the top 10% of UK new, non-domestic buildings.
Stephen Brown, Head of English at Lord Williams’s School, said: ‘Staff in the English faculty are hugely looking forward to the difference a new building will make to everyone’s experience of teaching and learning, and to the positive outcomes this will bring for students as a result.’
Once completed, the building and associated landscaping will add to the school’s security improvements and provide much needed extra external circulation space for students.
GSS has extensive experience in the design and delivery of many projects and upgrades to education estates. To find out more about GSSArchitecture, including its portfolio of work, in a variety of other sectors, please visit www.gssarchitecture.com
