Surrey Academy Featuring Technal Façade Products Is Named ‘World’s Best School’

The acclaimed Pegasus Academy at Whitehorse Manor in Croydon has been named the best school in the world. The scheme, which has already won a number of awards for architecture and design excellence, features a series of architectural aluminium glazing systems from www.technal.co.uk

The AR School Awards celebrate ‘the most exciting places of learning in the world’.  The global search included submissions from as far afield as Portugal, China and Afghanistan.  The judges, who included dRMM co-founder Sadie Morgan, praised the project’s ‘material beauty’ and ‘its spatial configuration’. They also commented, ‘The interventions have transformed a Victorian school into something that feels incredibly contemporary and incredibly liberating’.

Whitehorse Manor Junior and Infant Schools were extensively remodelled and expanded to create an inspiring academy in a £4.5m project.  An innovative design by architects Hayhurst & Co brought together a fragmented site with a series of extensions to a complex fabric of 20th century school buildings.  The new facilities included a nursery, six classrooms, a larger hall, and an entrance and office areas that link two existing buildings.

Fabricated and installed by Everglade Windows, a range of Technal’s façade systems were specified for both phases of the project:

• Fixed light windows in varying sizes were installed into the building’s striking gold shingle cladding and into the pitched roof for the nursery.
• Ribbon windows wrap around the nursery, set into curtain walling, to maximise natural light.
• Sloped glazing was constructed from GEODE-MX curtain walling for the stairwells with complex detailing to the corner edges to meet the architects’ design criteria.
• GEODE-MX grid curtain walling was used on all elevations and to provide roof glazing above the new entrance, with casement window inserts for natural ventilation.
• Casement door systems in both manual and automatic configurations were supplied for the main entrance into curtain walling, and for access to the courtyard, nursery and upper floor play deck.
  

Commenting on the façade systems, Nick Hayhurst, Director at architects Hayhurst & Co said, “This was a complex façade project with some challenging geometry. We used a combination of floor-to-ceiling glazing and individual windows to bridge the ground and first floors. We are very happy with the finished building and would definitely use Technal again for future projects.”

James Wilson, recently appointed Head of Marketing for Technal, said, “We are absolutely delighted to be associated with a project that has achieved such national and international acclaim.  This is a wonderful place of learning for young people and we offer our sincerest congratulations to the architectural team for their outstanding design.”

The Whitehorse Manor project has also been recognised with a Civic Trust Award, an RIBA Award (London category), the Schools Award in the AJ Retrofit Awards, and Best Public Sector Interior at the FX International Interior Design Awards.

Technal has now launched its latest and most innovative casement window system to offer exceptional security, thermal, acoustic and weather performance, and unparalleled aesthetics.  The SOLEAL window is available in numerous configurations and uses a single system with a 65mm deep profile and common components to give architects and contractors an extensive choice of construction options combined with ease of specification and maximum efficiency in manufacturing.

For further information about the new SOLEAL casement window and other Technal façade products, call 01924 232323, email info.uk@technal.com or visit www.technal.co.uk.