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BIRMINGHAM City Council has granted planning permission for the demolition and rebuild of New Oscott Primary School in Sutton Coldfield to make further progress with the national rebuilding programme.

Designed by CPMG Architects, the plans will transform the existing single-storey building into a purpose-built two-storey school with a sustainability specification including net zero carbon in operation.

The school, located near to the historic Sutton Park, is home to more than 630 pupils with three classes per year group, alongside a 58-place nursery, and is set to offer an enhanced learning environment. This is to be achieved through a layout that has been tailored to the school’s needs, improved daylight and ventilation and a wealth of high-quality outdoor spaces to create a greater connection to nature and physical activity.

Tom Ridley-Thompson, associate at CPMG Architects, said: “The New Oscott Primary School rebuild will enable a high-quality educational offering to continue. It is a highly successful school and our aim is to make sure the building reflects expectations.

“We know that schools built to the latest wellbeing and sustainability standards have a positive impact on student experience, so we’re pleased to be involved and helping schools reach important milestones in their journey to a new era.”

The sustainability commitment is demonstrated by the use of a green roof combined with a large array of solar panels, as well as a new sustainable drainage system that will provide attenuation for surface water during heavy or prolonged rain events. The highly energy efficient design also includes air source heat pumps, high levels of insulation and airtightness.

To ensure the new school building fits into its surroundings, the brickwork at low level matches the brickwork used in many surrounding houses. The light coloured render at high level also ties in with many local examples. The lightness of the finishes also help to reduce the building overheating.

Alongside CPMG Architects, the main contractor Tilbury Douglas’ project delivery team includes Hexa Consulting, David Paradine, Green Webb, Ares Consulting, Q+A Planning, Hoare Lea and OFR Consultants.

Simon Butler, managing director – Building Central at Tilbury Douglas, commented: “Working collaboratively with our project partners and the client, we look forward to delivering this education facility which will serve the community for generations to come.”

The existing school will remain intact and operational while construction of the new school takes place, ensuring there is minimal impact on pupils or accessibility. Moving forward, New Oscott Primary School is keen to develop opportunities for third party use of facilities, in order to provide services to the wider community, and the building design caters for this through
simple zoning for out-of-hours use of a number of the internal facilities.

For more information on CPMG, please visit https://www.cpmg-architects.com/