New formal entrance for Merchant Taylors’ School

The undercroft of the Grade II listed Great Hall has undergone substantial but highly sensitive refurbishment and alteration.
Merchant Taylors’ School’s brief was for the formation of a new focus for the 1933 W. G. Newton campus. This involved a concourse reception area, meeting room, careers office and adjacent 6th form common room facilities all within the existing fabric of the school.
Acanthus Clews’ solution hinged on glazing the previously external cloisters to incorporate them as part of the internal entrance space.
As with most schools projects time was very limited, providing just twenty weeks to complete. To speed up the process, the practice adopted a two stage tender procedure and worked closely with the contractors and a full team of professional consultants to resolve issues and to confirm a contract price before starting work on site.
The work involved extensive internal demolition to reveal the original concrete columns in a strong, geometrical, structural grid pattern. New glass and oak partitions were introduced between the columns to become a lightweight insertion to the existing space and to echo the dimensions and aesthetic of the Great Hall above and the existing windows throughout the school.
The existing floor was excavated to leave a metre deep void below the finished floor level in order to house all services plus a natural ventilation system and under floor heating.
A new suspended ceiling system was also introduced, reflecting the structural grid pattern of the existing fabric and providing a flexible gridded lighting system.

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