DLP (Planning) Ltd have submitted an application for planning permission and Listed Building Consent for a new through school for pupils ranging from nursery, infant, primary, secondary and sixth form to cover ages 3 – 18.
There is need for additional provision of school places for children in Sheffield, with the most pressing need at primary level, increasing demand from those places will follow through to secondary education and on to further education. The new school will create employment for teachers and support staff and, when fully operational, accommodate up to 1,400 pupils throughout the year groups.
The development proposals include the refurbishment of the former Pye Bank School, a Grade II Listed Building and returning it to educational use. A new school building is being developed on a cleared housing site which was demolished in the 2000’s.
The school has been designed by Race Cottam Associates and has adopted a linear arrangement of the new building to respect the views of the listed Pye Bank school while addressing the significant land level changes in the area as well as existing residential properties. Given the site’s visibility from the city, the building’s scale and massing has been developed on being read at large scale from a distance as well as up close. References to other local exposed sites with a large mass on a ridge such as Stanage and Burbage Edge have informed the evolution of the built form and references the very visible vertical rock stacks with the use of vertical glazing that slice through the solid masses. The building steps in and out to create the appearance of rock overhangs, crags and crevices which also help to vary the building’s appearance and massing in all directions.
As well as providing an inspirational new education setting in the north of the city, the facilities can provide a wider community benefit with amenities opened up to use for the benefit of all outside of school hours. A Community Use Agreement will be entered into which will enable wider access to the facilities outside of school hours. This may include, but not exclusively be limited to, weekend use of games areas, night-school learning, community use of halls for events and performances and sports hall for evening sport.
The re-landscaping of the area will also bring an active use to an area of land, which benefits from spectacular views across the city, but has been subject to vandalism and damage.
