Highgate Junior School

Designed by Architype, the scheme was built using Passivhaus principles to achieve a low energy building. The school provides state of the art educational facilities in a beautiful environment and comprises of teaching spaces and a main school hall to replace the former Cholmeley House library and teaching block.

The external materials were selected to allow the building to sit comfortably in its historic setting: handmade red bricks and Portland Stone. Architype and Fiona & Alec Peever visited Albion Stone to view a selection of Portland stones. Approximately 700m² of Jordans Whitbed was selected for its characteristics.

As well as the Portland Stone cladding, there’s a Portland Stone carved chameleon on the stone staircase, a centipede on the wall and carved ‘schoolchildren’ themed gargoyles.

The development secured a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating, which commends the project for adopting best practice for sustainable construction. Along with companies like British Gypsum, Kingspan and Ibstock, Albion Stone is one of a small number of innovative building product manufactures to achieve BES6001 – Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products. This accreditation means using Jordans Whitbed can contribute 3 BREEAM credits to any project.

A Nicolaides, Year 5: "The new school is so big and it’s like a palace. It is very modern and spacious and I love the little animals (my favourite is the platypus). The stone floor and the building materials look really nice. I love the adventure playground, the balcony of the classrooms, the new smartboards and the pens for it!"

2017 RIBA London Regional Awards Winner