Mouchel wins £10m Liverpool school

Liverpool City Council’s Children’s Services Directorate has commissioned 2020 Liverpool, a joint venture between consultant Mouchel and Liverpool City Council, to design a new school and residential buildings worth £10m.Following a feasibility study and options appraisal, carried out by 2020 Liverpool’s building team, the council has opted to construct a new-build special school, Lower Lee School, and associated residential accommodation for young adults with special learning needs on a brownfield site currently occupied by single and two-storey buildings.

2020 Liverpool’s design involves creating a small “village” of buildings comprising a two-storey school; two two-storey and two three-storey residential blocks, playgrounds, car parks and soft landscape areas. The buildings will be laid out in an informal arrangement, sitting neatly within their context and will have a domestic rather than institutional feel.

“We have included some interesting environmental features in the design of both the school and residential units such as solar water heating and passive ventilation” said architect Phil Martin. “A pre-assessment appraisal by an accredited assessor shows that the project will comfortably achieve a BREEAM [BRE Environmental Assessment Method] rating of ‘Very Good’.”

The school will have a sophisticated system of automated window controls which respond to the conditions in individual rooms and is linked to a roof-mounted weather centre. This system also allows night-time cooling to take place in the summer.

2020 Liverpool will also project manage the construction phase which is expected to begin in March 2008 and end in Autumn 2009.