The project at Coombeshead Academy involved the replacement of two outdated, poorly equipped ROSLA Buildings and a teaching/administration building, which were all in poor condition. The new purpose built teaching building accommodates the mathematics department, staff accommodation, administration areas and incorporates a new main entrance for the Academy.

The accommodation provides ten maths classrooms, two ICT laboratories, staff accommodation, including the finance department, HR and curriculum departments together with a new main entrance, conference room and reception area. The total accommodation amounts to 1,685sq.m (1,810sq.ft) including the circulation areas.

The layout of the new building was determined by the site topography and the requirements of the Academy’s design brief to link the new building to all the adjacent buildings. This was a complex element of the design as the required area of accommodation was the maximum available the site could accommodate, yet still needed to provide the corridor links to several buildings, internally, externally and on different levels.

The design provides a high quality commercial aesthetic to accord with a building providing the new entrance and high level of accommodation for Coombeshead Academy. In the years following the successful completion of this pivotal building, TFQ completed a further two phases of the site redevelopment, with a replacement kitchen, dining and sixth form hub and then a new sports hall, drama and music building.

The new building, has been built with a steel frame and clad externally with modular panels or glazing in order to meet the extremely tight construction programme, dictated by the grant funding arrangements.