Yarrells School

Joined up thinking

Posted
05
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08
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18

The clients approached us to develop designs for a nursery building on a very restrictive site in Upton, Dorset.

The access to the school is extremely pressurised by parking issues. All of the trees on the site are protected by tree preservation orders (TPO).

Finding a location for the building was challenging. There are few open spaces the school wanted to lose, as they are vital for sports and outdoor education. We selected a location that was used as a staff car park under some TPO trees. We worked with an arboriculturalist, a structural engineer (SE) and our planning team at the outset, to develop a sensitive scheme that nestled in amongst the trees. Normally building within the root protection zone is not possible. Here the SE developed a method that avoided contact with all routes and we designed an architectural finish that highlighted the building’s elevation. 

The planning department were entirely supportive of the scheme and it gained permission within 8 weeks. The building has been a great success and has not caused any parking problems as we managed to locate the spaces to other areas of the site.