Hilden Grange School

Work has recently completed on a transformational school redevelopment project at Hilden Grange School in Tonbridge.

The Ritblat Building provides new teaching spaces and a nursery as well as specialist science, art and design and learning support areas.  At the heart of the new complex connecting the east and west wings a new multi-use hall is large enough to accommodate the whole school.  The new development is located at the rear of the Victorian School within a Conservation Area opening up previously obscured views towards the Kent Weald.

The intention was to integrate the development with the existing topography and create a vibrant tiered landscape on three diminishing levels that offer play spaces for different year groups in between the school buildings with views over the surrounding fields and Green Belt beyond.

The proposed architectural interventions are predominantly cross laminated timber with cedar shingles, larch cladding with a linear wrap of wildflower green roof to absorb the buildings into the landscape.

Vibrant tiered play surfaces that undulate and morph provide subtle opportunities for external learning and play and create interest from the many aerial vantage points. The Multi Use Games Area was completed by September 2011 with the remainder of the project completed in November 2012.

The planting character of the play terraces is inspired by the majestic trees that surround the site with specimen Scots Pine and Birch trees humanising the terraces providing shelter and shade.  Biodiversity rich native habitat planting helps mitigate the school building impact and maximise BREEAM ecology credits and geotextile reinforced wildflower banks add highlights absorbing the level change between middle and lower terraces.

Overview

  • Project Name

    Hilden Grange School

  • Location

    Tonbridge

  • Category

    Education

  • Landscape Architect

    B|D Landscape Architects

  • Client

    Alpha Plus Group

  • Brief

    To create a dynamic landscape with characterful play spaces for year groups with multi-use games area that links the new buildings into the sensitive school grounds.

  • Awards

    Tonbridge Civic Society Design Award 2012

Details

  • Project Team

    Architect: HawkinsBrown Architects LLP Quantity Surveyor: Arcadis Structural Engineers: Price & Myers M&E Engineers: Peter Deer & Associates

  • Local planning authority or government body

    Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council

  • Year Completed

    2012

  • Project Size

    5145 sq.m. (Landscape)

  • Contract Value

    '£0.35m (Landscape)

  • Capital Funding

    Alpha Plus Group

Technicals

  • Planting

    Wildflower seed mixes BSH mix of WFG8; WG3 and WF10 to buffer zone and Emorsgate EP1F for pond edge Lindum Grassfelt to sculpted grass bank from upper terrace to assembly hall Bauder Xero Flor 118 wildflower blanket to green roof Lindum Wildflower Meadow Mat to sculpted bank between middle and lower terrace with additional wildflower plug planting Trees – Betula utilis ‘Jacquemontii’ of various sizes; Semi mature Pinus sylvestris & Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood’ (planted prior to outbreak of Chalara fraxinea) Shrubs, herbaceous and groundcover planting including Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’; Perovskia atriplicifolia; Rosmarinus officinalis; Verbena bonariensis Grasses: Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ Climbers: Lonicera japonica var. repens; Parthenocissus tricuspidata ‘Veitchii’ Hedging: Carpinus betulus; Sarcococca hookeriana var digyna; Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ Woodland edge mix of transplants: Ash, Blackthorn, English Oak, Guelder Rose, Hawthorn, Hazel, Holly, Bulbs: Allium ‘Christophii’; Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’, Galanthus nivalis; Hyachynthoides non-scripta; Narcissus ‘February Gold’; Tulipa ‘Purple Prince’

  • Materials

    Rubber crumb surface by Playtop with an undulating patchwork of 3 colours to the middle terrace and oval shaped play area on the lower terrace that responds to the circulation patterns. Ecoblock SUDS gravel retention system to car park area Borderline steel ring edging to tree planting

  • Contractors

    Main contractors: BAM Construct UK Ltd Landscape sub-contractors: ESL Landscape Contractors

  • B|D Landscape Architects

    Registered Practice - (3 - 5 Employees)
    Profile

  • Approximate Map Location

    Location

    Tonbridge

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