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Home/Projects/Education/Independent Schools/Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bunwell Boarding House

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bunwell Boarding House

Client
The Cheltenham Ladies College
Location
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Project Leaders
Mike Court
Value
4M

Challenge

Quattro were appointed as Education Architects by the prestigious Cheltenham Ladies’ College following a limited design competition to design a new boarding house, their first new boarding house to be built since the 1980’s.

The brief was to provide high quality accommodation for 66 girls that would exceed the Independent School space standards, on a highly sensitive, constrained site in the Bayshill Character Area within the heart of Cheltenham’s Conservation Area.

The existing site was occupied by a 3 storey 1950’s office building that had no architectural quality to merit its retention. The new building occupies a similar footprint in order to maximise the use of the site while enhancing the overall streetscape of Parabola Road, optimising orientation and reducing impact on surrounding properties.

Sector
Education
Independent Schools
Services
Architecture

Gallery

Education Independent Schools Cheltenham Ladies College bunwell exterior
Education Independent Schools Cheltenham Ladies College unwell garden
Quattro Design Architects school education architecture design services
Education Independent Schools Cheltenham Ladies College bunwell interior
Quattro Design Architects school education architecture design services
stairs at Cheltenham Ladies' College, Bunwell Boarding House

Solution

Early consultation with the Planners and Conservation Department was essential
to achieve planning consent and lead to a contemporary approach that still manages to reflect the traditional values of the college and the local regency vernacular architecture.

Careful consideration was given to the external appearance of the building using a pallet of materials to reflect the classical simplicity of the new building design, and to complement the surroundings.

The elevations echo the past but in a contemporary style, as the projecting central frontage in natural stone was used as a device to break up the roofline and materials; the protruding bay section forms a strong base reinforced through banded rustication with deep joints providing a rich and bold texture. The first floor ‘piano noble’ was emphasised through recesses and tripartite windows arrangement.

The top floor is treated as a separate element in order to reduce the large-scale building; it is set back from the main frontage and constructed in zinc cladding to balance proportions.

The internal layout has been designed around a grand central staircase with a generous foyer and lobby connecting the dining and drawing rooms, to create a strong first impression, a high-quality space filled with daylight and views through to the external spaces beyond.

Research into boarding house trends and preferences from The Cheltenham Ladies’ College influenced the planning of this boarding house. Quattro designed a flexible layout that could be adapted to refurbishment as well as new build projects. This flexible design was subsequently applied to future boarding house projects for the college.

With Sustainable Architecture at the heart of our ethos, Quattro designed this building to be highly sustainable. A fabric first approach included high levels of insulation to the building envelope (above those needed to satisfy building regulations), and thermal mass from the concrete frame.

Overall, the design sensitively responds to the surrounding historic context and is a significant building within the context of The Cheltenham Ladies’ College and the wider Cheltenham built environment.

We selected the team because they combined experienced, imaginative and environmentally sensitive design capability with a highly responsive approach as regards the client brief, working within tight planning constraints whilst building a deep understanding of the students’ needs. In this regard, we were not disappointed.

Eve Jardine-Young, Principal
Cheltenham Ladies' College, Cheltenham

In 2013, we did not have a single integrated set of CAD plans for the campus, and we had limited understanding of how efficiently we used our current spaces. The Quattro team assembled this integrated set of plans, providing a highly detailed and useful overview through a space audit...cont/

Eve Jardine-Young, Principal
Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Cheltenham

...This was extremely detailed work, a project in which the overall flow and ‘elegance’ of movement throughout the estate was held in appropriate balance with the granular level of detail.

Eve Jardine-Young, Principal
Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Cheltenham

Related Projects

St Edward’s Cheltenham

View Project about Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bunwell Boarding House

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, St Helen’s

View Project about Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bunwell Boarding House

Clients and Partners

Cheltenham College
Bath and North East Somerset Council
Churchill Academy and Sixth Form Centre
Department for Education
E G Carter & Co Ltd
Gloucestershire County Council
ESFA
Kier Living Ltd
Pate’s Grammar School
Queen Elizabeth Hospital School
Robert Hitchins Ltd
Stourport Primary Academy
Speller Metcalfe Ltd
Swindon Borough Council
The Chamwell Centre Charity
The Cheltenham Ladies College
The Crypt School
West Berkshire Council
Willmott Dixon Construction
Worcester Sixth Form College

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01452 424234

info@quattrodesign.co.uk

Quattro Design Architects

35+ years delivering Sustainable Architecture across the U.K. At Quattro, we design Architecture for the people who will benefit from the places and spaces we create. Our designs excite and inspire, regularly exceeding expectation. Sustainability, Collaboration and Social Responsibility lie at the heart of our work.

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