The Bridge School and Sports Facility, Islington

Client: Laing Homes
Architect:  SMC Corstophine & Wright
Quantity Surveyor: Jacobs Babtie
Structural Engineer: White Young Green
Services Engineer: Giffords

Built in 74 weeks on behalf of the London Borough of Islington, the Bridge School Project at Holloway provides a Special Education Needs facility and Sports centre for secondary school children.

The education building comprising of 4 floors dedicated to teaching spaces, offices and toilet/hygiene areas, was built around a full height central glazed atrium. Externally, play space is created by the provision of external playdecks at ground and second floors.

The sports centre has a multi use sports hall built above a 25 metre indoor pool, both of which were designed to Sport England standards.

Built on piled foundations, the envelope is a striking mix of several treatments including brickwork, render, timber, composite and rain-screen cladding, plus areas of curtain walling. All floors are served by 2 no, 46 person lifts. A carefully designed natural ventilation system provides classroom and corridor ventilation during the day, with an automatic night time cooling function. The system is controlled via a Building Management System, which combines the designed thermal mass of the structure to arrive at a sustainable solution.