Ridgewood School

Ridgewood School brings learning, landscape and community together in a more connected and sustainable campus designed around the everyday experience of its pupils.

At its heart is a new three-storey teaching building, bringing together general teaching, music, art and ICT with dining, performance and activity spaces. Set within a reimagined landscape and connected to retained facilities across the wider campus, the design creates clearer relationships between curriculum areas, social spaces and outdoor learning, supporting a school community of 1,560 pupils across 11–19 provision.

Ridgewood’s existing estate had developed over time as a collection of independent buildings and temporary accommodation. The project presented an opportunity to look beyond replacing ageing buildings and rethink how the campus could work as a whole.

The new 5,447m² teaching building consolidates key facilities within a compact three-storey form, strengthening connections between curriculum areas and reducing travel time between lessons. Buildings with useful remaining life, including the Sixth Form Centre, Brunel teaching block, PSBP science building and Sports Block, have been retained and integrated into the wider masterplan.

The building is organised around a central landscaped courtyard, creating a clear and legible pupil entrance and helping to structure movement through the school. Dining, performance and activity spaces are carefully positioned to support everyday teaching while allowing parts of the school to operate independently for activities outside the school day.

A simple, robust palette of red brick and glazing gives Ridgewood a strong civic identity. Two tones of brick, recessed planes and areas of projecting brickwork add depth and texture to the elevations, while generous glazing marks key entrances and shared spaces, brings natural light into the building and strengthens visual connections with the landscape.

The completed campus creates a clearer, more cohesive experience for pupils, staff and visitors, with learning extending beyond the classroom into a varied network of outdoor spaces.

The central courtyard provides a quieter, sheltered environment for socialising, meeting and outdoor learning, while more active spaces open out across the wider landscape. External dining connects directly to the dining hall and servery, with canopies providing sheltered places to eat, gather and learn outside.

Across the campus, lawns, trees, planting, seating and covered areas create different social settings for different ages, activities and pupil needs. External learning spaces sit close to relevant faculties, while grass banks form an informal amphitheatre for performance, gathering and outdoor teaching.

Accessibility and movement are embedded into the wider masterplan. Step-free routes connect the new building with retained facilities, including the Sports Hall and MUGAs, while pedestrian routes are clearly separated from staff, visitor and servicing vehicles to create a safer and easier-to-navigate campus.

The project also strengthens Ridgewood’s relationship with its wider community. Sports, changing and activity facilities are grouped to simplify access outside school hours, while drama, music, dining and the main hall are positioned at ground floor so they can be securely zoned for performances, activities and community use.

Sustainability is embedded at both building and estate scale, with a school-specific Sustainable Estate Strategy establishing a pathway towards a climate-resilient, Net Zero Carbon in Operation estate.

The building is designed to reduce energy demand through its form, orientation and environmental strategy. Natural daylight is maximised across teaching spaces, while the courtyard helps create shallower floorplates that support natural ventilation. Cross-ventilation in summer, hybrid ventilation in winter, thermal mass and green roofs all contribute to managing comfort and reducing overheating risk.

On-site renewable energy generation is maximised through photovoltaic panels across the building and PV canopies integrated throughout the landscape. As well as generating energy, the canopies provide shade and shelter for external dining, socialising and outdoor learning, making the sustainability strategy a visible and useful part of everyday school life. Air source heat pumps support low-carbon heating and hot water.

Landscape plays an equally important environmental role. Existing mature trees and boundary planting have been retained where possible, complemented by native trees, hedgerows, scrub and wildflower meadow planting to enhance biodiversity and strengthen ecological connections across the site. A biosolar green roof combines renewable generation with meadow planting, helping the building sit more sensitively within its green setting.

The landscape also contributes to climate resilience, providing shade and local cooling while helping manage more intense rainfall. SuDS measures, including porous paving and landscape-integrated attenuation, manage surface water, while the planting strategy incorporates a 10% biodiversity net gain.