Planning Consent granted for state-of-the-art senior school Thomas's Battersea Square
We are delighted to announce Wandsworth Borough Council granted planning consent for a new state-of-the-art Senior School on the former site of the Royal Academy of Dance in Battersea Square. The Planners praised the “exceptional quality of the proposed architecture” designed by Ackroyd Lowrie for Avanton in partnership with Thomas’s London Day Schools. Thomas’s Battersea Square Senior School will offer over 40,000sq ft of educational space, and connect through to the adjacent Thomas’s Junior School. To view an interactive Virtual Reality walk-through, scan your phone over the QR code below.
View of Thomas’s Battersea Square
Thomas’s Battersea Square consists of a series of carefully articulated contemporary additions alongside a sensitive refurbishment of the existing buildings. The design proposals respond to the School’s ambitious vision for the future, as well as the historical context of the buildings on site.
Ackroyd Lowrie’s innovative use of Virtual Reality to test and develop the design at 1:1 scale was crucial in allowing Tobyn Thomas, Principal Thomas’s London Day School, to understand the design proposal and work with the design team to deliver the School’s vision.
“My imagination was captured from the moment that I put on Ackroyd Lowrie’s Virtual Reality headset, our collective aim now is to make the reality of our new school even better still”…We are delighted and very grateful to every member of the team who have worked to extend the senior years into a first class school which offers a four dimensional educational programme.”
— Tobyn Thomas, Principal, Thomas's London Day Schools
Tobyn Thomas, Principal, Thomas's London Day Schools viewing the school in Virtual Reality
Axonometric view of Thomas’s Battersea Square
The existing historic buildings, and central courtyard will be refurbished and extended to provide 26 teaching spaces, a large double height hall, a dining hall, 6th form college and specialist science, music labs and a landscaped amenity space.
Teachers, pupils and visitors to the school will enter the building through the new, striking two storey glass connection between the existing Granary and Fonteyn buildings which leads to a new full-height lightwell that runs through the five storey Granary Building, providing light and ventilation to the centre of the school.
On the ground floor at the bottom of the atrium, an open foyer with bleacher seating acts as a hub, connecting the teaching spaces, hall, dining hall, and forming a gathering space at the heart of the school. This foyer opens out into a generous, cobbled courtyard that will be refurbished from its current use as a car-park, to form a green oasis in London’s Battersea Square.
“This new development will create an educational centre of exceptionally high quality and profile…”
— Omer Weinberger, Chief Executive Officer of Avanton
“It has been an amazing process working alongside Thomas’s school and a fantastic wider team to re-imagine these beautiful historic buildings as a state of the art new senior school. We would like to thank the Wandsworth Council planning team for their valuable input and support and we are delighted the scheme has been granted consent”
— Jon Ackroyd, Director of Ackroyd Lowrie
Perspective section of Thomas’s Battersea Square
The new Thomas’s Battersea Square school is due to be completed by late 2022.