Castlebrae Community Campus

A new Community Campus in Craigmillar, Edinburgh, providing accommodation for 700 pupils, with provision for expansion to increase capacity to 1200 pupils. The design has a strong placemaking focus as it forms a frontage to Niddrie Mains Road, placing community education visibly at the heart of the community. The location of the campus facilitates outdoor learning, facing open community edges and into the learning parkland to the north. Important views from the campus are orientated toward the historic skyline of Edinburgh, connecting it to the city.

A key idea of the design is an articulated building cross section of “spaces” that “interlock”, educational spaces for collaborative learning and informal breakout areas. Spaces that are visually connected exploiting the slope of the site enabling pupils to enjoy long views to the surroundings and to navigate their way through the campus with ease. The facility is a warm, welcoming home for the close-knit school community, providing bright, comfortable, spacious, and inclusive accommodation. Facilities include innovative teaching spaces in the form of collaborative learning plazas as well as more traditional classrooms, to encourage a range of teaching and learning experiences; modern sports facilities including a Games Hall, Fitness Suite, and Dance Studio; and large dining / social space, directly linked to the adjacent Assembly Space at the lower level and forming the heart of the campus.

A variety of spaces are available for community use, and Large glazed areas at street level showcases pupils work to the wider community that is intended to help activate the new public square. 3D modelling and environmental analysis helped shape the daylighting and environmental strategy for the building, providing a high level of comfort for the building’s users. Working closely with the client’s technical staff ensured energy use and running costs were considered at the earliest possible stage and helped to inform the design of the fabric of the building as well as the services within.

The urban setting of the building, adjacent to a busy main road, provided opportunities to increase the civic presence of the campus and allow the external space to be maximised with an innovative and varied landscape design. This presented challenges regarding the provision of natural daylighting and ventilation whilst eliminating noise and pollution from nearby traffic. The project has achieved a BREEAM Good rating, an EPC B+ rating and was modelled in accordance with BB101 and BB90 climate-based daylight modelling.