Proposals for a new school in West Carclaze have been approved by Cornwall Council. Reds10 is the Principal Contractor, with architecture and interior design by Sense of Space Architects.
The 1,750m2 Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery will accommodate 210 pupils and includes a 26-place nursery. The new school will be part of the wider residential development at West Carclaze Garden Village.
The two-storey school building will also be complemented by soft planting across the site, with areas of short and long grasses, native tree planting and a dedicated habitat area for study. Informal hard playground space will facilitate the link between the key outdoor play areas and the internal classroom layout. A fenced Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) and grass playing field are enclosed by a soft landscape buffer around the perimeter of the site with tree planting to provide shade, shelter, and interest throughout the year.
Sustainability is embedded throughout, with air source heat pumps providing heating to the building and PV panels and windcatchers on the roof, in line with the energy strategy for the school. Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery is designed to be net-zero in operation and complies to the Department for Education (DfE)’s net-zero in operation guidance, Spec21.
Sense of Space has worked with Reds10 to progress a design which will integrate with the wider West Carclaze Garden Village development using a combination of local and contemporary materials. The new school will be located at the heart of the village centre with direct access from the adjoining neighbourhood facilities, supporting sustainable transport via a network of footpaths and cycleways. The two-storey building will be clad in local stone at the lower level with hard-wearing fibre cement panels and metal cladding above.
The design proposals for Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery have been developed in close association with Kernow Learning Trust, who will operate the school, and the DfE. The academy, which is part of the DfE’s Free School Programme, will be constructed using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) with 87% of the work completed off site in Reds10’s Driffield factory.
“We are incredibly proud of Sky and its first cohorts based at Eden. We are feeling excited at the progress towards finally arriving at our permanent site – building the future for Sky before our very eyes.”- Clare Crowle, CEO of Kernow Learning
“Delivering sustainable, high-quality and cost-effective new schools is an ongoing challenge for the education sector but the broadly similar requirements of school buildings in the UK make them particularly amenable to the standardisation that MMC delivers. Sky Primary and Eden Project Nursery is a fantastic opportunity to illustrate the benefits of MMC and we are very pleased to get the go-ahead from Cornwall Council and the DfE.”- Joe Shepherd, Director & Education Sector Lead for Reds10
“We are looking forward to seeing this highly sustainable project take shape, initially in Reds10’s factory and subsequently on site in this beautiful location.”- Richard Addenbrook, Managing Director at Sense of Space