SCAPE Hawthorne Primary Bestwood 05 09 19 3

Bestwood Hawthorne Primary School

Sector: Education

Project Value: £5.75m

School places provided: 315

The staff, pupils and parents are over the moon with the school and we are now looking forward to a busy time both inside and outside the classroom"

Rachel Jarvis

Head Teacher | Bestwood Hawthorne Primary School

Originally built in 1878, Bestwood Hawthorne Primary and Nursery had outgrown its current building and needed a new home so it could meet increasing demand for school places.

With a new 100-dwelling estate being built nearby, this demand was about to accelerate rapidly. The school wanted to be able to offer quality, modern facilities, where its team could nurture a new generation of local children.

Nottinghamshire County Council asked Arc Partnership to come on board to design and deliver a new school that could cope with both current and anticipated demand.

This project has seen Arc work closely with construction partner Kier and housing developer Langridge Homes, designing the new school building to make optimum use of available space on a tricky site and using 3D technology to map it out in an L shape over two storeys.

The main challenge was the sloping nature of the plot. In response, the site was plateaued on two levels. The school itself sits on the lower level, leaving space for playing fields on the higher level that meet Sport England standards.

Another issue was the site’s land drainage, as a large amount of surface water was being held on the top level. Arc engineers used their experience and expertise to direct surface water into the main drains, making sure flooding wouldn’t be a problem for the school in future.

The new building has created more school places for local children in a fantastic, modern building. It provides a high-quality, energy-efficient learning environment with all the up-to-date facilities they need.

The practical design made the most of the sloping site by levelling it out and building across two storeys. It’s a solution we arrived at after working closely with the school on creative ways to bring their vision to life. They were part of the entire journey, right through to the details of its interior design.

Thanks to some of the methods used on this project, Kier has been awarded an excellent score from the Considerate Contractors Scheme.

The brand new school opened its doors in September 2019, offering high-quality facilities for existing pupils and space for up to 200 new children from the growing community.

In its first phase it will provide 315 primary and 39 nursery places, but it’s also been designed so it can easily expand, with plans to provide up to 420 school places in the future.