Carnwath Primary School

The creation of a new single storey primary school within Carnwath, a moorland village on the southern edge of the Pentland Hills of South Lanarkshire as part of the SLC Modernisation programme phase 3. The existing primary school on site was to be operational throughout construction and the existing sports field to be utilised for the new 2210m2 primary school and nursery. The land locked site required a design response that utilised the form of the building to create a quality external environment with the limited space available due to the existing school.

We proposed a long linear building which works with the site and context to provide a solution which looks as if it belongs in its proposed position – not hampered by an existing building which will be demolished. This has resulted in a piece of quality architecture which avoided costly decanting of school pupils during the works. The central circulation spine of the school is immersed in natural light via a clerestory which wraps around and signifies the main entrance. This clerestory is above multi purpose breakout spaces which serve a cluster of 4 classrooms. This allows circulation floor area to be used by small groups outside the classrooms.

The massing and footprint of the school was utilised cleverly to segregate deliveries, create a secure playground to the rear and form a generous main entrance piazza whilst being sympathetic to the surrounding context and creating views and vistas to the extensive landscaping design.

Biomass technology was utilised for heating purposes and a sustainable timber kit for cost and programme savings.

Coordinating fellow consultants design information is a rigorous task but through collaborative 3D BIM and clash detection we examined and eliminated potentially unforeseen clashes in the design phase. Even though the structural design was being generated by an external design consultant the workflow was managed to combine, review and amend the design discipline’s models to avoid costly rework on site.

MSPS worked closely with the school and council stakeholders from the outset to develop an interior design scheme which was important to the pupils, locale and topics that motivated them. The result was a vibrant use of supergraphics throughout the building which was noted by the client as being the best scheme within the Framework.