The provision of a school at Crown Street is key to the placemaking ambitions of Renaker’s New Jackson Masterplan. The masterplan will create a new neighbourhood of circa 6,000 homes, with meaningful and enjoyable public places knitted into the fabric of the city and legible connections to adjacent areas. It will also include a social infrastructure, comprising a medical centre, dental practice, community facilities, and the new school, that will support the needs of residents of New Jackson and of the wider city and help to establish New Jackson as a vibrant, safe, secure and sustainable place.
SimpsonHaugh prepared the concept design for the new school, working closely with Manchester City Council and the Local Education Authority (LEA) to establish the best way to deliver a primary school in compliance with Department of Education guidelines on this tight site. The concept that emerged was for a 4-storey ‘vertical school’ – an arrangement that would separate the school’s facilities into a series of horizontal layers, relating to a child’s progression up through the school years – with nursery and reception classes (and a private day care facility) at ground floor, Key Stage 1 classes at first floor and Key Stage 2 classes at second floor. A double height school hall connects first and second floor. The main school playground crowns the building, with views over the landscaped park and play area. The school’s support facilities include external play areas, small group rooms, resource, therapy and library facilities and a food / science / DT area. The school hall provides space for a range of activities including assembly, PE and dining, supported by storage and kitchen facilities.
We thoroughly enjoyed working in collaboration with educational specialists Arkilab Design Studio, who delivered the detailed design on this community focused project. Operated by the Laurus Trust, the school has capacity for 210 children with 24 pre-school places available in the separate day care facility.
The school is completely unique in its setting, flanked by two residential towers, Elizabeth Tower and The Blade. Materials (buff brick work and bronze coloured metal) are hardwearing and were selected to withstand the test of time, meet a long-life expectancy, to create a clear relationship with the podiums of the adjacent towers and to ensure that, as a whole the development sits comfortably in the setting of Grade II listed Bridgewater House.