Eglinton Primary

Client - Greenwich Council
Location - Woolwich, London
Appointed -
Estimated value - £2.2m

In 2000, Greenwich Council embarked on a borough-wide schools reorganisation programme with the aim of disposing of surplus accommodation due to projected reductions in pupil numbers, and investing the proceeds into improving the remainder of it's schools estate. At the time Eglinton comprised a separate Infant and Junior schools together with a separate Nursery. The contrast in terms of architectural style between the two major developments on the site is pronounced, a triple deck Victorian board school and single-storey Infants school from the 1980's. A major level change and austere security fencing added to the feeling of separation between the two buildings and the separate institutions.

In August 2001 we were invited to develop the strategic brief for the proposed new institution created by the merger of the two existing schools and also an existing three-class nursery at Woolwich Common, together with new Sure Start funded Under 3's provision. The resulting institution would cater for 548 children and their parents from birth until the age of eleven. An exemplary briefing process involving multiple stakeholders led to a detailed education brief comprising two under 3's classes, six Foundation stage classes and twelve Primary classes.

A key theme arising from the discussions was to find a way of unifying and linking the disparate buildings on the site into a single institution. The three-storey Board school was in poor condition having lost the decorative stone detail to the upper gables and the original timber windows, replaced with matching uPVC. Two flat-roofed brick lobbies with a flight of concrete steps dating from the 1970's, provided an anonymous entrance and restricted daylight into the ground floor hall. The building however adapted well to the proposed two-form entry primary school brief, by means of paired class rooms for ascending ages rising up through the floors.

Two new build extensions employ a consistent architectural language of horizontal rectangular windows and 'butterfly' metal roofs to unite these disparate existing buildings. A gently curved 'yellow block' path, together with ramps to resolve with the major level change, links the two new extensions and the retained entrances to the site. The school remained fully operational throughout the duration of the building works, with temporary buildings provided on the site. The refurbished buildings were opened by Baroness Ashton, Minister for Extended Schools, in July 2004 and the site was subsequently designated as a Children's Centre.

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