Nine Elms School
- Client: London Borough of Wandsworth Council
- Architect: IBI Group
- Contacts: Tom Lawson
- LPA: London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth appointed Rolfe Judd as part of a design team led by IBI Group to design a new mixed-use development comprised of a primary school, children’s nursery, and community/sports/recreation facilities within Nine Elms. The application was for approval of reserved matters forming part of a wider developer led masterplan.
The proposed school will be built on the former South London Mail Centre site between Nine Elms Lane and Ponton Road with designs that were developed with the council over four years using school design guidance, feedback from planning consultations and review by two independent design panels. The building provides a two-form entry primary school, nursery and community sports facilities within one building, the development is in a prominent location at the western end of the 4.5 hectare linear Nine Elms Park.
The proposals were developed closely with the Councils Planning, Design and Educational teams. The scheme defines the site’s ‘principal use’ as the school, with the educationally driven layout providing a development that is future-proofed, sustainable and of the highest educational and architectural quality; whilst meeting central government school design standards; and delivering a ‘Healthy School’.
In August, the new school was unanimously given the green light by Wandsworth Council’s planning committee. The school was also highly commended in the New London awards August 2021 Unbuilt Category. The panel selected the project as an example of development that contributes to and enhances the vision of London as a city ‘that is sustainable, civilised and egalitarian, that seeks to improve the quality and standards of new design’.
