The facts
Client: Department for
Education
Location: Brixton, London
Services: Project Management
Sector: Education
Contract Type: Design & Build
Project Value: £48m
Start/Completion: 2008 - 2010
The project
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and
project managed by Capita Symonds on behalf of client ARK Schools,
the Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton presents itself as an open,
transparent and welcoming addition to the community’s local urban
regeneration process.
ARK Schools was founded in 2004 to work with
the Department for Children, Schools and Families and local
authorities to create new schools offering exceptional
opportunities to local children in inner cities through their
academies programme, with the aim of helping to close the
achievement gap between children from disadvantaged and more
affluent backgrounds.
Designed for 1200 pupils, the Evelyn Grace
Academy maintains the educational principle of smaller
‘schools-within-schools’; with Evelyn and Grace Middle Schools each
housing 270 pupils and Evelyn and Grace Upper Schools housing 330
pupils per school. Each of these four smaller schools are contained
within highly functional spaces that give a distinct identity both
internally and externally.
These spaces present generous environments
with maximum levels of natural light, ventilation and understated
but durable textures. The collective spaces – shared by all schools
– are planned to encourage social communication within each school
and eliminate problematic zones that require supervision.
Read The Guardian's review of the Evelyn Grace Academy
(Capita Symonds is not responsible for the content of external
internet sites).
Image © Luke Hayes