The relocation of Ashmount School in Loughborough is now complete and officially opened on the 6th of February. The school is a new, purpose built building and was previously completely unfit for purpose; the previous site was situated a few miles down the road from the new location. The school is home to 125 pupils with a range of special needs and the design of the site has been designed with their needs in mind.
The new facility contains many impressive features aimed at improving the pupils learning experiences. The building, which is all on one level, contains a sensory area with an interactive floor for developing pupils’ mobility,as well as a hydrotherapy pool containing wall tiles which were created by the pupils at Ashmount.
There are also extensive storage areas around the building including designated spaces for pupils’ mobility equipment which were severely lacking in the previous facility. There is also a large outdoor area with activity trails and play areas for pupils. The artwork at the front of the school incorporates the school’s new logo which was created by a parent of a pupil.
The school also has two calming rooms both indoors and outdoors allowing children space to withdraw to when necessary. Another feature of the school is the main hall which houses a music and drama classroom. The classroom is separated from the hall space by a folding partition and can be folded back to create an even larger performance space.
Premier Construction caught up with Will Aust, from A+G artchitects, who was the project Architect for the new school. A+G also acted as lead consultant on the project, which was completed by Willmott Dixon Construction as part of their framework agreement with Leicestershire County Council. Work began on site in December 2012 and has just finished following a 56 week programme.
Premier Construction caught up with Will Aust, from A+G Architects, who was the project architect on
Will said:
“The building has been designed around two central courtyards which act as a focal point for the children to ensure they do not get lost and can be anywhere in the building and still recognise where you are in relation to the courtyards.
“Corridors are a necessity but having long straight corridors gives the building a really institutional feel which we wanted to stay away from so we curved the corridors slightly and situated exciting destinations at the end of each corridor including the food technology space and art and design room.
“The school were very keen to include the staff facilities in the centre of the school to ensure the staff and pupils were interacting as much as possible. The staff offices and leadership rooms have been built right in the middle of the school’s two courtyards echoing the school’s ethos of inclusion.”
Will said the project has been a brilliant scheme to be involved in:
“The school has a bespoke design and it has been enjoyable to learn how the teachers run their classes and provide a building that will help them do that. It has been very rewarding. The building is much better tailoured to the way the staff teach and as a result is much more flexible to run.”
