Montpelier Nursery
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
The Montpelier Nursery is one of only three community nurseries operating within London Borough of Camden
Managed by a voluntary committee of parents, the nursey had been operating from a dilapidated temporary structure since 1983.
AY Architects’ prepared a feasibility study and obtained planning permission that unlocked funding from Camden’s Early Years Capital Programme to construct a nursery for 24 children.
The initiative was set up by parents for the community, a demonstration of self-help and persistence to the best ends.
The nursery responds to its site, a pocket park at the centre of a triangle of houses sloping downhill towards Kentish Town.
At the centre of the former Montpelier estate is a Regency villa, which sits behind the nursery and is used as a youth facility by Camden Social Services. The park is public and has three points of access.
The nursery managed a land swap with the villa and park to create a better relationship with the rest of the garden, while gaining more play area and offering a new bench in the public realm against the south-facing nursery wall.
Data
- Begun: Aug 2011
- Completed: Apr 2012
- Floor area: 136m2
- Sector: Education
- Total cost: £429,000
- Procurement: JCT Intermediate Building Contract
- CO2 Emissions: 14.54kg/m2/year
- Address: 115 Brecknock Road, London, N19 5AH, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: AY Architects
- Project architect: AY Architects
- Client: Camden Community Nurseries
- Structural engineer: Price & Myers
- M&E consultant: King Shaw Associates
- Quantity surveyor: Stockdale
- CDM Co-ordinator: AY Architects
- Approved Building Inspector: London Borough of Camden
- Main contractor: Forest Gate Construction
- Cross-laminated timber subcontractor : KLH
- CAD software used: Vectorworks
- CAD software used: Revit/AutoCAD/MicroStation