We are thrilled that our projects The Royal Academy of Dance and Rotherhithe Primary School were both named winners at the RIBA London Awards.
For 50 years the RIBA Regional Awards have championed and celebrated the best architecture in the UK and around the world. Successful projects reflect changes and innovations in architecture, but at their core display a commitment to designing and developing buildings and spaces for the improvement and enhancement of people’s lives.
Royal Academy of Dance
The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) had a long-standing ambition to transfer its operations from a very inefficient, constrained heritage building in Battersea to a new building in the same area.
This project is the result of CEO Sir Luke Rittner’s vision of a cleverly articulated deal to swap sites with a developer who would also provide significant fit-out funding. The RAD’s new home is the ground floor of a new residential tower on a main thoroughfare. The spaces were originally intended as a large-scale retail unit, and the structural walls, columns, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) services routes were predefined for the building above.
The RAD is part of the successful Coda Battersea development. Designed with sustainability in mind, our engineers used the party walls in the residential building above the premises as transfer walls to allow us to carefully position columns to maximise the below floor area for the Royal Academy of Dance.
Working alongside Avanton and Patel Taylor, we provided structural engineering services.
Rotherhithe Primary School
Rotherhithe Primary School, located in London’s Docklands, underwent a complete transformation. The scheme replaces all of the existing 1970’s buildings, and totally reimagines the surrounding landscaping to create a new 3,500 m2 ‘school in a garden’. The new two-storey school accommodates up to 630 pupils with a further 60 places on offer at the integrated nursery.
We were appointed by Faithful & Gould on behalf of the London Borough of Southwark Regeneration Division to provide building services, civil and structures engineering design in addition to air quality environmental services. Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios architects (FCBStudios), they created a school in a garden, with greenery on all sides where there are classrooms, creating a nurturing environment for children. From window heights and material choices to strategies that enable attentive but unintrusive supervision, the approach throughout is thoughtful and inclusive.
Both projects will go on to compete in the RIBA National Awards due to be held on the 11th July.
To see the full list of London winners, click here.
