rhp were a key part of the successful Equitix Learning Partnership consortium whose appointment as the winning bidder for the £110m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme was approved by Cambridgeshire County Council in December 2009. Our design of the bid’s sample school for the Neale-Wade Academy in the town of March was delivered in 2013 with the final phase of building works.

Over half of the school has been rebuilt to provide new halls, dining, performing arts, music and media facilities, together with new administration, general teaching and sixth form areas. The remainder of the school has also undergone significant remodelling.

Our strategy for a new circulation spine and a three storey Learning Resource Centre heart space provides a strong focus and clear legibility for the arrangement of the new buildings which form a new coherent masterplan for this large 1800 pupil school.

The project is an exemplar for sustainable design and utilises passive ventilation strategies and low carbon timber panel construction for a number of large span spaces. A Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating of ‘very good’ has been achieved.