Chilwell Lower School

Summary

Lower School built in 1975-76 to the designs of Michael Tempest and Roger Bearsmore of Nottinghamshire County Council Architects’ Department.

Reasons for Designation

Chilwell Lower School, built in 1975-1976 to the designs of Michael Tempest and Roger Bearsmore, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is an example of a school built in CLASP, a system of prefabrication pioneered by Nottinghamshire County Council. As the first building system consciously designed for building on ground liable to movement, it represented an engineering breakthrough that influenced architecture not just in Britain but internationally;
* the unusual formal quality of the elevations show CLASP Mark V at its best;
* the resource centre, which was regarded as the essential facility for extending the investigatory style of learning from primary into secondary education, is realised in a two-storey building through the distinctive innovation of a central space occupying a mezzanine area which connects spatially and functionally to all other areas of the building;
* the collaboration between architects and educationalists successfully provided a planning solution to the pedagogical philosophy of the day, clearly demonstrating the aspirations of a progressive educational authority;
* the plan form has survived with very little alteration, and the like-for-like replacement of the doors and windows has preserved the original architectural character of the building.

History

School building was both a symbolic aspiration of post-war Britain and an urgent need, driven by the ‘baby boom’, the raising of the school leaving age, planned new towns and estates and the reconstruction of bomb-damaged buildings. Programmes of new schools were coordinated and designed by local education authorities with loans and oversight from central government. Demand was led by prefabricated ‘kits of parts’, either sponsored by public authorities or developed privately. Elsewhere, where bricks and bricklayers were readily available, traditional techniques were adapted to incorporate large windows and flat roofs. Collaboration between architects and educationists could result in expressive plans which facilitated patterns of learning and movement. The requirement for abundant daylight and outdoor access led to dispersed layouts, a trend which was countered by tight cost limits and constrained sites. In the best examples child-scaled proportions, landscaping, bright colour schemes or works of art combined to create a distinctive visual aesthetic.

The 1944 Education Act divided schooling into primary and secondary stages with a break at age 11. From 1964 authorities were permitted to introduce middle schools to provide a transitional curriculum and pastoral care for the 8-12 or 9-13 age ranges, whilst making the best use of existing secondary schools. The younger year groups combined class bases with access to shared practical areas; specialised language laboratories, crafts workshops and music rooms were provided for older pupils, with a shared library or resource centre. Numbers of middle schools peaked in the early 1980s but many authorities reverted to a conventional two-tier system in response to falling pupil numbers and the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988.

Chilwell Lower School was built in 1975-1976 to the designs of Michael Tempest, directing architect, and Roger Bearsmore, project architect, at Nottinghamshire County Council. It was designed as the lower school component of a 9 form entry mixed comprehensive school catering for 540 pupils aged 11 to 13. Like the main comprehensive school which was built in 1970-1971, the Lower School was built in CLASP Mark V. The building of schools and other public buildings in Nottinghamshire after 1955 is closely tied up with CLASP – the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme – which was launched in 1957. The County Architect Donald Gibson devised a method of building schools using a lightweight prefabricated system that was economical and could withstand mining subsidence. There was continual change and each development was denoted by a new Mark.

CLASP Mark V, introduced in 1971-1972, was metric, and marked also the introduction of computers into the design of the system and its components. First used at Dalestorth Primary School, Mark V was cheaper, with fewer components and simpler site operations, yet more sophisticated in appearance. Steel and concrete replaced the last elements of timber in the roof and upper floors, partly to increase fire resistance; the steel roof decks were designed in conjunction with the South Eastern Architects Collaboration (SEAC). 80% of the early Mark V buildings were clad in concrete panels, given a white, red, grey, brown or green aggregate finish in the casting. Mark V used plastic coated windows from the first, designed for ease of maintenance, with projecting ‘oriel’ windows in addition to the pyramidal roof lights.

Chilwell Lower School is now used as the Sixth Form. The external doors were replaced in around 2008, and further alterations have taken place as part of the 2015-2016 refurbishment, notably the replacement of the ceilings and lights, some of the rooflights, and all the windows.

Details

Lower School built in 1975-1976 to the designs of Michael Tempest and Roger Bearsmore of Nottinghamshire County Council Architects’ Department.

MATERIALS: CLASP Mark 5 pin jointed light steel frame with concrete panels faced in brown brick chippings. Metal roof decks with felt roof covering.

PLAN: the building is on the south side of the main school which is arranged around a courtyard. It consists of three rectangular shaped blocks – a north-west block, a large central block, and a smaller south-east block – joined by narrow linking blocks.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey building has a flat roof with rooflights (some replaced) and two large pitched rooflights over the central block. Each floor is faced in full-height, rectangular, exposed aggregate panels of a light brown colour. A narrow ribbon window runs around the building at ground-floor lintel height. The fenestration consists of two-light windows in plastic frames which, on the ground floor and linking blocks, have blue panels beneath reaching to the ground. The first-floor fenestration consists of either two-light windows or canted oriels with two horizontal lights. The blue plastic doors have a glazed panel in the upper half. All the windows and doors date to 2016.

The building is approached from the north-east. From the left, the small south-east block is blind except for one two-light window on the right hand side of the first floor. The main entrance is located in the slightly recessed linking block and has double-leaf doors with flanking windows, and a four-light window above. The short south-east elevation of the central block is lit by off-centre windows on both floors. The main north-east elevation has a group of three windows flanked by doors, and another window at either end. The first floor is lit by five oriels directly above the ground-floor windows. The right return has a central three-light window followed by a two-light window on both floors. The linking block is lined by rows of windows with blue panels and has a double-leaf door on the left. The short south-east elevation of the north-west block has a three-light window on both floors. The main north-east elevation has narrow windows at each end, a double-leaf door on the left and a two-light window on the right. The first floor has five windows; the two outer ones are narrower. The north-west elevation of this block has a window at either end, and in the centre a door, window, door, three windows and a double-leaf door, all grouped together. The first floor echoes this arrangement with a group of three oriels in the centre, flanked by a window at either end.

The south-west (rear) elevation of the north-west block is very similar to the elevation just described, except the windows on the first floor are not oriels. The right return has a window and adjoining double-leaf door, and a window above. The linking block is lined by rows of windows with blue panels and has a double-leaf door on the right. The rear elevation of the central block is the same as the front elevation, and the right return has a window on both floors on the left hand side. On the short linking block there is door with flanking windows, and four windows above, all with blue panels below. The rear elevation of the south-east block is lit by a window on both floors on the left hand side. The south-east elevation of this block has a very similar arrangement as the central block.

INTERIOR: the floor and walls of the entrance hall are laid in tiles of a brownish-red colour which also line a rectangular bed for indoor plants. The walls of the main areas of the building are covered in hessian or narrow vertical strips of beech which is also used to encase the square pillars. All the staircases and ballustrades have glass panels and stainless steel handrails. The suspended ceilings date to 2016.

The central space, which is lit by the parallel pitched rooflights, rises through a height of one and a half storeys and has many changes of level. The main mezzanine area is occupied by the resource centre which is crossed by a bridge and is accessible from both ground and first floors. Short open staircases link it on three sides with six teaching spaces on the ground floor and nine on the first floor; on the fourth side it leads to the science area and, below, to the dining room. The plan form has changed very little, the only alterations being the creation of a smaller room within the staffroom in the south corner of the small south-east block; and the addition of a partition wall to close off a small area in the south end of the central block on both floors.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Williamson, Elizabeth, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire, (2003)
Chilwell Lower School, Nottinghamshire in Architects’ Journal, Vol. 172, (19 November 1980), 985-95
Christine, Wall, An Architecture of Parts: Architects, Building Workers and Industrialisation in Britain 1940-1970 , (2013)

Other
England’s Schools 1962–88: A Thematic Study, Geraint Franklin, with Elain Harwood, Simon Taylor & Matthew Whitfield (Historic England Research Report Series no. 33-2012)

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