City of London Academy Shoreditch Park

The Britannia Project regenerates a thriving London community with the facilities and amenities it needs, delivering new housing and new school places to anticipate the requirements of its expanding population. From the outset, Hackney stipulated that it was essential that the new Academy meet and exceed the quality of Hackney’s school building stock. The City of London Academy Shoreditch Park, is an urban school on a tight site. Clearly defined entrances on the street and active frontages to Hyde Road and Pitfield Street give it a civic presence which is echoed by the quality and materials of the stone and brick precast facades. The four and five storey building opens up to the playground, maximising playspace, both at ground level and on the roof top games area. The interior is arranged around two atria with a primary corridor at each floor running east to west. The building has been designed to allow for daylight and internal views through these atria spaces to produce a bright and comfortable school with a connection to its environment. Timber acoustic linings bring a warmth to the central gathering areas. The general arrangement of teaching spaces from first to fourth floor, provides general classrooms to the north elevation, with the larger practical spaces arranged around the east atrium (technology and art department on first and second floors, science on third and fourth floors), sixth form is located above the entrance on the third floor and the SEN department is on the fourth floor with access to the rooftop playground. Located at the ground floor are main hall, activity studio, LRC, dining hall and music department, easily accessible to the public when required. The sports hall is raised up at first floor level, to provide a large, covered playground space below. The façade is constructed using a profiled precast concrete façade system with inlaid brickwork, supported by a lightweight steel frame. This has allowed for fast erection on site while minimising construction site area. The relationship between concrete horizontal cornices and vertical fins and brickwork panels pick up on the language of a Hackney Terrace. The future Crossrail tunnels, size of the building and constrained nature of the site has required an innovative approach. The building footprint has been kept as small as possible to maximise the playground areas, taking advantage of the existing topography to create an amphitheatre playground. As the building is built on a raft slab, in order to build the 5th floor, a basement was incorporated to reduce the overall weight on the tunnels. This project provides a wider contribution to placemaking, improving the social, cultural and economic character of the local area.