Coleridge Hall
Haysom Ward Miller were chosen as architects for two major projects at this Cambridge comprehensive school. The original buildings, built in the 1930s, are robust and popular, but lacked modern facilities for a successful and rejuvenated school. The principal projects included a new school hall, to provide a space for informal meeting, assemblies, exhibitions and break-out teaching, and a new sports hall to replace the small original gymnasium. At the same time, a master plan has been developed, analysing current buildings and suggesting a pattern of courtyard development for the future.
The new Radegund Hall deliberately picks up the straightforward character of the original complex, with a palette of exposed brick internal finishes, timber and exposed steel, and makes the most of the relationships with the reordered courtyards to each side. Environmental performance has been a key consideration, with careful choice of materials, high levels of insulation, thermal mass and a passive ventilation strategy helping the building to achieve a BREEAM "very good" sustainability rating.
The Radegund Hall was named as best new building over £1m in the Cambridge Design & Construction Awards 2013.
Haysom Ward Miller were presented with the Award, in recognition of the building's contribution to the townscape of the City of Cambridge.
Photos by Peter Hrebien