Alderman Knight Special School

Alderman Knight is a well-established Special School for children aged 4-16 with MALD, complex needs and ASD. Many pupils are autistic, and all have needs in the area of communication and interaction. The existing school was in a poor state of repair and suffered from narrow corridors, poor circulation through classrooms, lacked natural light and had substandard areas.

Quattro was selected by Alderman Knight and Gloucester County Council through a competitive process as the Architects with the necessary Special Needs School Design experience to successfully develop the brief and design options to radically transform and significantly extend and improve the school. The aim was for it to meet the high demand for SEND support in Gloucestershire. Phasing of these works were critical as the school needed to remain in operation throughout.

Quattro approached the scheme balancing the short to medium term requirements with the longer-term objective by creating a phasing plan ensuring pupils moved as few times as possible during the works. Critical works were carried out in the school holidays. Therefore, there was minimal disruption making the design and construction phases a positive learning experience for the students.

Car Parking and drop off are consistently the focus of many schemes with pupils being dropped off and collected by taxi or minibuses. This project is no different. A large single drop off route to safeguard and manage these busy times was established and has proven a great success.

Extensive consultation with students, staff, governors, parents and other stakeholders throughout the design made for a lively process and established a shared vision which benefited the resulting proposals.

• Existing Building Refurbished – 1205m2
• New Extension Phase 1 – 1523m2

The design has been an outstanding success and the school has since been recognised for its technical and design excellence, attributes which lie at the heart of all of Quattro’s Architectural Design.