TP Bennett unveils Toby Young school designs
Journalist uses Richard Rogers to attack previous school building policy
TP Bennett has unveiled images of the design for Toby Young’s West London Free School that it will send to local planners next month.
The firm is carrying out the work for contractor Willmott Dixon and has been asked to overhaul an existing Victorian building in King Street in the Hammersmith area of west London.
But launching the plans, the journalist couldn’t resist dishing out another barb against the previous Labour government’s school building policy which he suggested involved getting Richard Rogers to design “glass boxes”.
He added: “The answer is not to purchase metropolitan open land and hire Richard Rogers to design a glass box, as the last government was fond of doing, but to refit and extend an existing building.
“It’s not a question of whether we need a new secondary school but how we can set one up in the most inexpensive way.”
Young had previously angered architects after accusing them of building “civic monuments” which cost too much money. This week he claimed his new school would be half of the average £28 million he said was spent on a new secondary school under Labour.
Called Palingswick House, the new home of the West London Free School had been earmarked for demolition by Hammersmith and Fulham Council ahead of the site being turned into flats.
But the school bought the site and is now hoping to open its 600-place school next September. Work on site is set to start this October.
TP Bennett and Willmott Dixon were drafted on to the project last month after the school split with original contractor Apollo.
The architect will refurbish the existing 1,500sq m building and add a 3,000sq m extension. Partner Chris Wieszczycki said: “The budget is tight and a fraction of what is normally spent. It’s light touch refurbishment and the extension at the back.”
He added the firm meets with parents once a month to discuss designs. “It’s a refreshing experience working with the end-user for once.”
Once completed, it will include 20 classrooms, six science labs and two art rooms and will provide education for girls and boys aged 11-16.
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Readers' comments (9)
£14m on 1500m2 refurb and 3000m2 extension... still not cheap is it Toby....
Mossbourne Academy was £25m for 8300m2 of space (construction cost) so yes the project cost is about twice as much as Toby's 'free' school... but its twice as big...
it should actually be called 'toby young's west london free school'. it'll remind me to overlook it, regardless of the ofsted report.
Ah - Toby Young, the arch-privatiser.
The comment “It’s a refreshing experience working with the end-user for once.” says it all.
Toby is being ripped off. The school is costing about £3000/m2 on average (new build and refurbishment). For this money he could have used one of Britain's more expensive (in terms of building costs) architects, such as Michael Hopkins, and got Rolls Royce craftsmanship. That said, the TP Bennett building looks OK, unless those are Portakabins at street level...
Not cheap indeed, that's £3,111 per sq M averaged over new and refurb.
In discussions on a new school we are told the target is £1,200, which is too little.
Toby young now looks like a bluffer, a bully and a cheat.
Currently working on a couple of schools with a budget each of £1050 per sq. m. construction cost.
Free schools are expensive by comparison.
the political insistance to actually spend money on refurbishment (which is shocking!! when you see it) when most of the time its is actually cheaper to knock it all down and rebuild a low cost model for the stated amounts (ie 1050-1400 per sq.m) depending on spec.