St. George’s Primary School, Westhoughton
Blue Sky Design Services, Equity Solutions’ full architectural, environmental, engineering and healthcare consultancy, was invited by the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education to design a new 240 place primary school with an associated 26 place nursery.
The shared use of a common denomination church maintained a strong relationship with the pupils, with the scheme also incorporating a sanctuary and church room.
The resulting school is based on separate infant and junior areas, with both designed to provide individual classrooms grouped around a shared teaching space, providing facilities to accommodate the most flexible teaching methods.
The design of internal spaces, maximum use of natural light and overall massing was informed by visits to the school’s existing buildings and visits to other schools carried out jointly with senior teachers and governors.
Materials were chosen to produce a scheme which reflects its use as a public building, but still retains the scale of the surrounding residential development.
