Barton Court Grammar School
A well-known school was able to increase its capacity by more than a fifth thanks to Clague Architects’ educational design expertise. Barton Court Grammar School in Canterbury has a new standalone teaching block after setting Clague the task of developing a masterplan. The project was shortlisted in the Community Benefit category of the prestigious RICS Awards 2018.
We worked closely with the school to develop a masterplan for its expansion, as it faced the challenge of increasing the number of pupils from 800 to more than 1,000.
Barton Court is Canterbury’s only co-educational grammar school, and it needed help in unravelling the potential of a newly-acquired standalone teaching block.
Together with Betteridge & Milsom, we helped unlock Condition Improvement Funding from the Education Skills Funding Agencies, which made the project possible.
The building needed to be sensitively redesigned due its close proximity to the school’s Grade II-listed Manor House. Materials selected included red multi-stock bricks to mirror the facing brickwork of the Manor House, with the render and rainscreen cladding consistent with the adjacent sports hall.
Providing three science labs, a science prep room, six maths classrooms and a general classroom, the new building also includes a kitchen, a dining hall, servery and office accommodation, with a flexible social space at its heart. Completion of this new teaching block has enabled the existing cramped dining hall and kitchen to be converted into a much-needed sixth form centre.
The project was shortlisted in the Community Benefit category of the prestigious RICS Awards 2018.
We are now working with the school to help secure funding for the next phase, which includes a new car park, main entrance, reception, office space and school hall.