Schools Building Program
Define has secured the delivery of a broad range of schools and colleges in both urban and rural locations, that offer main stream and specialist primary and secondary education.
Services: Planning
Location: East & West Midlands
Date: 2012 — present
Client: BAM Construction
Deliverables: Planning Statement, Compliance Statement, Stakeholder Engagement, Full Planning & Reserved Matters Applications
There is an inherent sensitivity in the design and delivery of educational facilities; whether because buildings are no longer fit for purpose, an urgency for school places, a need to expand an existing school, or introducing a new school to a community that has previously had no experience of such (and the considered pros and cons that this brings). There is also increasing pressure to find the most suitable land for education that must compete with more commercially driven development.
We’ve supported investment in education for over a decade through our work with BAM Construction. Since 2012, this has resulted in the successful completion of specialist University Technical Colleges (UTCs), secondary and sixth form schools, primary schools, and dedicated SEND schools across the East and West Midlands.
Specialist UTCs include WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Solihull. This offered an important opportunity to support urban regeneration through investment in education as part of the North Solihull Regeneration Area. Located within an existing community, unlocking the site required a careful balance between physical and environmental constraints; existing green space and public rights of way, nearby dwellings and watercourses, and the neighbouring Chelmsley Wood Local Nature Reserve. Designed by Maber Architects, it provides a unique place for learning, offering specialist subjects allied to local employers in the automotive, aerospace and high value engineering sectors.
More recent opportunities have focused on seeking to combine regeneration of brownfield sites, including the successful negotiation of new secondary schools in Leicester and Derby, and the redevelopment of an existing primary school in Birmingham, all of which are now complete.
Project Team
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Kirstie Clifton
DIRECTOR
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Sam Perkins
SENIOR PLANNER