Chichester Court

At the turn of the millennium, government investment in education was driving a renaissance in school construction. Local authorities were also finding their Victorian buildings expensive to operate and poorly suited to modern teaching methods. This led to the mass vacation of old schools in favour of a new breed of purpose-built Academies.

 

Saint Richard of Chichester, a Catholic Secondary School in the London Borough of Camden, was one such example. Community Housing Association, now One Housing Group, acquired the site with the aim of addressing a more persistent London wide issue: a severe shortage of affordable housing.

 

In a move that now seems prescient, rather than demolishing the old structure, a more sustainable low carbon adaptive approach was taken. Hence the old school was sensitively converted into 41 affordable rented homes including 6 purpose designed apartments for wheelchair users.

 

Historic Victorian features were retained wherever possible. This led to some unusually generous spatial arrangements including duplex apartments with double height living spaces overlooked by mezzanine bedrooms. The historic brickwork façades were carefully restored and thermally upgraded to improve energy efficiency. Penthouse apartments clad in sustainably sourced timber were added where the rooftop playground once stood.

 

The project was delivered using an innovative new partnering contract. Although shortlived, these were developed in response to the 1990s Latham and Egan reports which criticised inefficiencies in the construction industry. The team successfully embraced this alternative partnering approach, adding social value with much needed affordable housing, minimising the environmental footprint through adaptive re-use, all within a budget under £900/sqm.