Ashmount Primary School.

Set amidst sylvan greenery in North London’s desirable Crouch End, this exciting eco-friendly redevelopment introduces a host of new educational facilities to the area. Our expertise has been instrumental in helping to deliver Britain’s first BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ school project.

Location

London, UK

Client

London Borough of Islington

Architect

Penoyre & Prasad

Project Value

£13 million

Floor Area

43,402 m²

Status

completed 2013

Expertise

Structures

The project encompasses the relocation of Ashmount Primary School, construction of a new nursery and refurbishment of the CAPE youth club. The completed project is intended to be carbon-negative in use.

An existing community centre and nursery building were demolished to make way for the new development. Much of the demolition material was recycled and used in construction of the new buildings as part of an aspiration to make the project zero waste.

The new four-storey school building features a concrete structure, chosen for its thermal mass. We chose a precast solution for the floors, delivering long spans for flexible space planning.

Both Ashmount Primary School and the Bowlers Nursery feature ‘green’ sedum roofs planted to encourage biodiversity and integrating the structures with the surrounding landscape. The nursery is low level and ‘earth sheltered’, utilising sculptured light wells on its roof and allowing use of the turfed park space above via a shallow-stepped access route. High-strength concrete roofs and basement perimeter walls were designed to resist the extra loads created by soils.

A former electrical substation has been used for some time as the CAPE youth club. The three-storey structure has been redeveloped to provide enhanced facilities for CAPE as well as a new energy centre.

Our assessment of the existing steel structure showed that it been constructed to support substantial loadings from heavy electrical plant. As such, no major strengthening or modification works were required despite significant local alterations made to the building, including insertion of cantilevered window bays.

Awards.

2015 RIBA Regional Award

2015 RIBA National Award

2012 BREEAM Award – Education Project of the Year

2011 New London Awards – Commendation