Skelly & Couch is directing MEP environmental engineering on a significant redevelopment of the Notting Hill & Ealing Junior School, part of The Girls’ Day School Trust.

The new, purpose-built school will be constructed on the site of the existing school as a modern teaching facility, fully accessible, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and significantly enhanced landscaping to enable external play and exploration.

The heart of the new school comprises a centralised hub from which 14 new classrooms, a science lab, specialised facilities for art, science, ICT and the creative arts and a new enlarged library, will flow into east and west wings.

Integral to the new development will be a range of highly innovative, environmentally sustainable features designed to minimise its carbon footprint, increase the flexibility of its spaces and reduce running costs by the use of higher efficiency plant and services. 

The key project objectives for the client and the design team are to achieve great natural daylighting throughout the building; provide a comfortable internal environment; introduce systems which are intuitive and easy to maintain; and meet the specialist servicing requirement needs of Life Science, ICT and Creative Arts spaces.

All of these objectives will ultimately result in the new Junior School achieving a BREEAM Outstanding rating.

Skelly & Couch has designed the services strategy to reduce the school’s running costs by maximising passive design, using high efficiency plant/services and incorporating appropriate renewable technology. We have also designed flexibility into the buildings to meet the client’s future operational needs while ensuring that the new building is secure and safe.

Completion will coincide with the School’s 150th anniversary in autumn 2023.