News
4 December 2008
First phase campus expansion completed at Wyggeston and
Queen Elizabeth I College
A new building in an £8million-plus campus expansion and modernisation project for Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College (QE) in Leicester designed by Pick Everard is now complete.
Pick Everard designed the new 2,700 sq metre building on the sixth-form college campus to house Visual and Performing Arts and the department of Business Studies and Economics. The second phase, which has just started, includes designing the refurbishment of a 1930’s Science wing to modernise laboratories and provide better study facilities. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) provided 44% of the funding, with the remainder from college resources.
Pick Everard’s architects used a limited palette of materials - cedar cladding, white render and glass - carefully combined to provide an elegant design solution. A notable sculptural feature is the series of freestanding columns, clad with perforated panels, enclosing a sculpture courtyard. These columns ascend and merge into a white, curved, rendered wall that sweeps into the building and passes through the roof, providing an appropriate feature to the art and design wing. From a first floor balcony, a helical stair follows the curve of the perforated screen down into the sculpture courtyard, giving views of sculptures from different angles and levels.
To create a visual link between the old and new, the main street of the new building is positioned to align with the existing College main reception entrance.
This light and airy building has been cleverly designed with inspirational learning in mind. In the art and design department, both the structure and mechanical and electrical services are exposed, making the most of all available space and giving students a chance to see the workings of the building from the inside. A series of north lights on the top floor provides natural light and ventilation for many of the studios and a central atrium space has both roof light and clerestory glazing so daylight can penetrate into the core of the building.
Brise soleil and solar control glass will regulate heat gain and solar glare and an automatic window operating system will open and close windows, regulating environmental conditions inside. A geothermal ground source heat pump has also been installed to provide heating and cooling.
Pick Everard associate Brian Rule is leading Pick Everard’s multi-disciplinary design team of architects, mechanical, and electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, structural and civil engineers and planning supervisors. He comments, “We’re delighted to see this first project phase completed and to be helping the college achieve a new and high standard of facilities, not only for the students of today but also for those in the future. It’s also very satisfying to be designing schools and colleges in our home county.”
John Thawley, Vice Principal at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College said, “The College is delighted to have moved into the new building which provides excellent facilities for learning and teaching and for the students and staff of the departments concerned. The design is first rate and has been complemented by excellent workmanship from the contractor. There is a general buzz of excitement from users and the delivery of this first part of the project augurs well for the refurbishment phase in which we are now engaged.”
Pick Everard’s recent award-winning project history in education in Leicestershire has included Madani Academy, Oakham School and Stephenson College.
The firm is also currently working on new projects in Leicester city at Regent College and South Leicestershire College.
