Westminster Academy
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Academy atrium
Tim Soar (website) Download Original
City academy for 1,175 students and 128 staff members planned around a linear atrium on a challenging site adjacent to an elevated motorway
Located in an urban context, dominated by the Westway flyover and surrounded by 1960s tower blocks on the Harrow Road, the school embraces the latest thinking in education and the ideals of the RSA Curriculum of the 21st century.
Designed in the form of a 5-storey building housing all facilities except the sports halls. These are housed in a separate building to allow for all year round community use. The school aims to provide a flexible and responsive learning framework that gives pupils individual responsibility for their education and encourages team working by both staff and pupils'.
The in-situ, exposed concrete frame, projecting balconies on the rear elevation and the sedum roof are all part of the sustainable strategy. Large panels of glazing, vibrantly coloured terracotta tiles in green and yellow and a series of illuminated screens cover the elevation creating a highly-reflective building by day that transforms into a colourfully glowing beacon at night.
Data
- Begun: Dec 2005
- Completed: Sep 2007
- Sector: Education
- Total cost: £27.8M
- Tender date: Jun 2005
- Procurement: JCT 98 with quantities
- CO2 Emissions: 85kg/m2/year
- Address: Westminster Academy, The Naim Dangoor Centre, 255 Harrow Road, London, W2 5EZ, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
- Project architect: Paul Monaghan
- Client: Westminster Academy , Westminster City Council, DCSF, Exilarch Foundation
- Quantity surveyor: Davis Langdon
- Planning supervisor: PCM Safety
- Main contractor: Galliford Try Construction
- Structural engineer: BDP
- Services engineer: BDP
