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Eveline Lowe School

The 1967 Eveline Lowe School in Bermondsey was the first of the new open-plan schools in Britain, and therefore holds a unique place in British educational history.
The school was subject to a RIBA Competition as part of a wave of primary school funding for Southwark’s ‘Schools for the Future’ programme. The brief was to expand and modernise the School to create a 21st Century school that respects the design philosophy of the original with its innovative open0plan teaching arrangement.

Working in association with HKR Architects (and Prof. Sir Colin Stansfield Smith as consultant), jpa’s team was placed first. The competition-winning scheme placed new classrooms in pods around the external boundary of the site, leaving the listed school buildings refurbished and intact. Each pod is constructed using a steel frame that can easily be erected from the roadside. The open plan concept of the 1960s school has been maintained in the new buildings, with carefully chosen materials to provide passive control of the thermal and acoustic environments.

Client London Borough of Southwark
Status Completed (2010)
Contract value £13m
GIA m2 2,700 m2
Structural engineer Barton Engineers
M&E consultant Hoare Lea
Contractor Lengard
Photography © James Morris
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