In each of the following projects, we have thoughtfully created environments to help shape the future of education and inspire student creativity and improve student wellbeing.
We have worked with Cirencester College over several years on a c£9.5 million premises development plan, aiming to make improvements to the site and provide cutting-edge, flexible learning spaces. The major projects we have delivered in recent years include the Digital Skills Building, T Levels Building and Art Block remodelling.
Across both the Digital Skills and T Levels Buildings we have implemented innovative ideas, based on design, flexibility, ease of construction and providing the best value to the client. The use of brick slips ensured that the external envelope of the Digital Skills Centre was complete ahead of time, allowing work internally to progress ahead of schedule.
As well as designing the exterior, we also carried out extensive work on the interior to create a light, comfortable and social space.
The Digital Skills Building is an exemplary teaching block based on flexibility, collaboration, and technology. We delivered the building on a live campus, working closely with E G Carter to minimise disruption.
The T Level building provides teaching facilities for a range of subjects, including engineering, health, and construction. T Levels provide opportunities for students who wish to pursue technical careers. By offering a range of subjects and ways of learning, the college is becoming a more innovative and inclusive campus.
Our landscape architecture team has designed several external spaces, including seating outside the Digital Skills Building and a proposed new courtyard.
The art block remodels included work to the internal walls to create an open space fostering creativity. A brand new lift and external staircase were added during the remodel, which has given the building a new personality and enhanced the exterior.
Gloucestershire College relocated their existing Forest of Dean College to provide an exemplary new highly sustainable facility for over 16s. The college required flexible, future-proof facilities that could be shared by students and the community, with the 7,200m² campuses acting as the catalyst for the Cinderford Northern Quarter development.
The college required the new, £15 million, campus to provide facilities for not only A-Level courses but also vocational courses such as beauty, catering and teacher training.
The design consists of three distinct but complementary elements which include a vocational training college, a sixth form centre and a central hub providing dining, social and teaching functions for the college and the wider community. The building design utilises the existing lake for passive heating and cooling methods, is orientated to provide high levels of natural light and uses the existing site contours to minimise the impact of the facility on the landscape, it incorporates brown and green roofs to provide habitats for wildlife along with grey water and rainwater harvesting.
To fully understand the project, we organised and ran stakeholder workshops and consultations with students, parents and the community to gather ideas. The building was carefully delivered to a tight budget with structured collaboration throughout the process working with the contractor and stakeholders to ensure the budget was spent appropriately. The building is situated on a site of national ecological importance populated by bats, newts and dormice. This meant that every stage of development needed to be extremely sensitive to the surroundings and, through targeted consultation and working with ecologists, we reduced the ecological impact on the site.
We have worked extensively with Hartpury to deliver newbuilding's to their campus, helping them to achieve their wider strategic plan of supporting student growth with first-class facilities. Our two main projects have been the University Learning Hub and Graze.
We worked with Barnwood Construction and Vitruvius Management Services to deliver Graze, a £5 million catering hub with flexible teaching spaces, catering facilities, event space and sustainable features. The building was designed to be fully accessible for disabled users, with accessible WC facilities, dropped kerbs, and level access throughout.
The University Learning Hub will house a library and learning areas. The two-storey building will include formal and informal study spaces, social spaces, a cafe, and administrative facilities. Green roofing and landscaping will help local ecology, and biodiversity and improve outdoor space.
Graze was handed over in August 2022 providing students of both the college and the university with a brand-new catering hub. Work began on the University Learning Hub in October 2022.
The new buildings are designed to be low-carbon providing a highly sustainable environment for work, study and collaboration. The designs follow a ‘fabric first’ approach, with high levels of insulation and internal environments developed to maximise natural light and fresh air. Following this 'fabric first’ approach, on-site renewables have been included, such as photovoltaic panels.
Cheltenham College is a day and boarding school for children aged three to 18 in the heart of Cheltenham. The college required a new dedicated nursery building to provide modern classrooms and outdoor spaces for children aged three to five. We were commissioned to design a highly sustainable building nestled among 75 acres of green space.
Our design focused on sustainability and creating a natural setting, both inside and out. Externally, the curved timber structure provides a dramatic roof canopy that blends indoor and outdoor spaces, and the natural feel continues inside with shades of green and wooden furniture. The building's sustainable cross-laminated timber structure embodies less carbon than a steel frame while providing the same durability.
Cheltenham College's new nursery provides children with a space to learn and play in a woodland setting. The unique building offers the very best start to children’s education.
Cleve Sixth Form is a new, £10 million, sixth form building that was required by the school to provide a crucial social and informal learning space along with dining facilities, a flexible auditorium and classrooms.
We developed a stakeholder engagement plan that included initial community consultation early in the process where comments and concerns could be taken on board. Later we held community information events tabling the developed plans ahead of making a planning application.
“I cannot praise Roberts Limbrick enough. They have provided creativity, whilst always being aware of the practicalities. I am very happy to recommend Roberts Limbrick to anyone”
Alywn Richards, Head Teacher, Cleeve Secondary School
The transformative building has been designed to reflect the ethos of the school, delivering a more effective and engaging learning environment, using a glass façade to put the sixth form on display and create a sense of pride and aspiration for the rest of the school and the wider community.
These examples are great at showing how our creative design process can be implemented in real-world educational facilities. If you enjoyed these educational projects Roberts Limbrick has been part of, and you have a similar project in mind, contact us at mail@robertslimbrick.com
