Burntwood School Redesign Wins Prestigious Award

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For making "the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture"

The school was announced as this year’s winner at an awards ceremony last week. Dubbed 'The Oscars' of the design and architecture industry, the Stirling Prize is awarded to the building that’s judged to have “made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture over the past year”. 

 

 

 

The judges concluded: “Burntwood School is the clear winner of the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize. It is the most accomplished of the six shortlisted buildings because it demonstrates the full range of the skills that architects can offer to society.

“It encompasses great contemporary design and clever reuse of existing buildings as well as superb integration of artwork, landscaping and engineering. It is a genuine collaborative project. There was a wonderful working relationship between the head teacher and the architect: a true partnership of equals.”

Speaking at the awards ceremony, RIBA President Jane Duncan said, “Burntwood School shows us how superb school design can be at the heart of raising our children's educational enjoyment and achievement.”

She said the firm of architects, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, had “created a stunning campus. They have produced delightful, resourceful and energy efficient buildings that will benefit the whole community in the long term.”

The Stirling Prize makes it a hat trick of major design awards for Burntwood. In March it won a Civic Trust Award and in July a top prize in the 2015 New London Architecture (NLA) Awards.

The school was extensively remodelled and rebuilt last year as part of a £40m improvement scheme. Its new-look campus has four new teaching blocks, a new performing arts centre and sports hall. An IT learning centre and new state-of-the-art science laboratories reinforce its reputation as a centre of excellence for science. Its assembly hall and swimming pool/gymnasium building were also extensively refurbished and modernised while the campus also benefited from major landscaping work.

The changes have enabled the school to cater for an additional 250 pupils, including an expanded sixth form of up to 400 students.

The building works were carried out by construction firm Lend Lease with the design work led by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), whose website showcases the scheme. The project was managed and overseen by Wandsworth Council. 

Burntwood’s principal Helen Dorfman said, “The whole Burntwood School community is delighted and proud that the scheme has been recognised as being worthy of the Stirling Prize.

“Staff and students have said on many occasions that the new buildings have greatly improved the quality of their day-to-day experiences at the school and students comment that their commitment to learning has been enhanced.”

Speaking before the announcement she said, “The campus has been carefully designed to maximise learning opportunities for the students. Facilities include excellent science laboratories; professional standard dance, drama, music and theatre provision; outstanding sports accommodation linked to a sports field and including a swimming pool and fitness suite.  We include art, photography, design technology, textiles, product design and computing in our curriculum and are proud of the high numbers of young people who leave Burntwood for prestigious higher education institutions.”

Yasmin, a Year 9 pupil at the school said, "The buildings help me to learn because they are organised and work well and I want to do well to complement them." 

Her words were echoed by Year 8 student Thalia who added, “The technology in the buildings means that we are so much better than any local school.  It makes me want every school to be like Burntwood.”

More information about the Stirling Prize and RIBA can be found on its website.