Newsletter - Links - Advertise - Contact Us - Privacy
 

Coatbridge schools campus opens its doors

November 6 2012

Coatbridge schools campus opens its doors
A £44m schools campus encompassing Buchannan High and St Ambrose High along with the Townhead community centre, have opened their doors to pupils.

Designed by JM Architects and built by Balfour Beatty the new campus is intended to become a sports hub for the area with facilities opened up to the wider public.

It is located on a former landfill site at Drumpelier Country Park, a source of concern for some parents who claim that methane gas emissions pose a health hazard to pupils.

Archie Burns, Balfour Beatty's project manager, said:  “The building has been designed with sustainability very much in mind. We've been able to recycle around 92%of the waste, which would normally have gone to landfill; and 69% of the material has come from within a 2.5 mile radius of the site."

It is the latest in a series of new schools to be completed for North Lanarkshire Council.
39 new school and community facilities have been delivered across North lanarkshire since 2006
39 new school and community facilities have been delivered across North lanarkshire since 2006
These have been delivered under the £250m Schools and Centres 21 programme
These have been delivered under the £250m Schools and Centres 21 programme

8 Comments

cheap as chips
#1 Posted by cheap as chips on 6 Nov 2012 at 13:34 PM
Good grief this is a pretty poor example of what JM can do. The striped clad elevation illustrated is reminiscant of the worst municipal sports halls built in the 70's & 80's!
Oh dear!
SAndals
#2 Posted by SAndals on 6 Nov 2012 at 20:52 PM
Lack of imagination externally and internally, boring elevations, too many roof planes and clumsy junctions...are we sure this this isn't Aedas architects?
The Bairn
#3 Posted by The Bairn on 6 Nov 2012 at 22:04 PM
Not at all I think this is a prime example of what JM have been producing on this type of project for a number of years ... pay a visit to the new Falkirk High School for design 'flair' being superseded by value engineering. Simply cheap and nasty rectangular shoe boxes. Oh dear!!
ruby tuesday
#4 Posted by ruby tuesday on 8 Nov 2012 at 12:36 PM
Post no. 3 - The Bairn - your comment is a little harsh and sweeping. Granted this is not the best looking school that JM have produced. Perhaps your should look at JM's Hillhead Primary School in Glasgow, which says a lot about how schools can be designed under a different procurement method and the different scope of design that is afforded to Architects.
Trombe Wall
#5 Posted by Trombe Wall on 8 Nov 2012 at 14:16 PM
The implications that D+B has on the final project, is all too prevelent in most of the modern schools. If only the contractors were as focussed on the quality of the final project as architects. Or in this case, if only the project was interesting. Having visited Hillhead PS, I would agree with #4, very slick indeed.
rob
#6 Posted by rob on 8 Nov 2012 at 15:36 PM
"If only the contractors were as focussed on the quality of the final project as architects"

That has to be the single most naive blinkered comment on here to date....and that’s saying something
Trombe Wall
#7 Posted by Trombe Wall on 8 Nov 2012 at 15:49 PM
The implications that D+B has on the final project, is all too prevelent in most of the modern schools. If only the contractors were as focussed on the quality of the final project as architects. Or in this case, if only the project was interesting. Having visited Hillhead PS, I would agree with #4, very slick indeed.
Trombe Wall
#8 Posted by Trombe Wall on 8 Nov 2012 at 15:49 PM
The implications that D+B has on the final project, is all too prevelent in most of the modern schools. If only the contractors were as focussed on the quality of the final project as architects. Or in this case, if only the project was interesting. Having visited Hillhead PS, I would agree with #4, very slick indeed.

Post your comments

 

All comments are pre-moderated and
must obey our house rules.

 

Back to November 2012

Search News
Subscribe to Urban Realm Magazine
Features & Reports
For more information from the industry visit our Features & Reports section.