On behalf of Argent Related, DWD have obtained reserved matters approval for a new three-form entry primary school within Brent Cross Town after receiving unanimous approval at the London Borough of Barnet’s planning committee last week.
Brent Cross Town is a new ’15-minute town’ in north-west London comprising a 180-acre walkable urban neighbourhood being delivered by a joint venture between Argent Related and the London Borough of Barnet. The multi-billion pound regeneration initiative will create a new town centre, incorporating 7,500 homes, 27,000 jobs, 3 million square feet of commercial space, three re-built schools, redevelopment of Brent Cross shopping centre, new parks and community facilities, an additional Thameslink train station and major road and public transport improvements.
The new Claremont Primary School will replace the existing school creating 630 places at any one time for pupils, as well as an integrated 24 place additional resource provision unit for children with autism spectrum disorder. It will be a key piece of ‘critical infrastructure’ within Phase 2 (South) that will meet additional demand for primary school places generated by the early residential phases.
The existing school buildings are not considered to be fit-for-purpose, being of poor quality, do not provide level access and have poor environmental performance both in terms of energy and internal conditions.
The replacement school building has been designed by David Morley Architects that have evolved and been informed by extensive pre-application discussions with officers at the London Borough of Barnet. Extensive consultation was also undertaken with the Claremont Primary School leadership team, teachers, and pupils in the form of regular design workshops, receiving input on accommodation brief and the developing design to ensure the resulting design and brief closely meet the requirements of the school.
The new school will offer a high quality architectural design with a layout, scale and massing that responds to the context of the surrounding area and the challenging topography of the site. Its three-storey mass will present itself as two-storeys onto Claremont Road demarcating its presence as an important education and community facility in the area.
The school grounds will be transformed by an extensive landscape design that emphasise a connection with nature, with play spaces provided for each cohort of the school inspired by different landscape typologies and level changes across the site. Incorporated within the landscape design is a multi-use games area for use by the school and the local community outside of school hours.
In parallel to the development of the design, a significant number of sustainability initiatives are incorporated ensuring its status as the ‘exemplar building’ at Brent Cross Town meaning it is highly sustainable by any measure, in particular by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating against two different BREEAM schemes.
This approval is another in a series of approvals that DWD have obtained for Argent Related at Brent Cross Town, broadening further the diversity of our planning success there following the delivery of consents for mixed-use residential-led plot development, public open space/public realm improvements and transport infrastructure.
For more information, please contact Andrew Deller or Clara Rands.