Castle View School
Canvey Island, Essex
Castle View School is a co-educational school for 1200 students aged 11-16. The project was one of two sample schemes for Canvey Island that formed part of Skanska’s successful competitive bid for the Essex Building Schools for the Future programme. The project involved the relocation of the school from its rural site on the Island’s periphery to a busy site in the centre of town to fulfil the Canvey Town Centre Master Plan’s proposal for a new school building that was fully integrated into a series of public spaces.
The Head Teacher’s aspiration was for a building that was welcoming and inclusive whilst providing a safe and secure environment for its users. The development was to become a catalyst for further regeneration of the town centre and act as a beacon of education for the local community.
It is a truly magnificent and first class building that our young people are very proud to have.Gill Thomas, Head Teacher
Layout and massing
The layout of the new school established a clear organisational diagram that promotes social engagement and encourages the local community to use the facilities.
The building’s massing reflects the scale of the adjacent shopping centre to the north and the smaller scale housing to the south. The site is designated as being within a flood zone and the floor levels were raised to mitigate the effect of flooding and for the sports hall to act as a place of refuge for the local community.
Civic quality
The regular ordered facades achieve a calm and apropriately civic quality whilst being suitably robust for the Island’s marine environment. The pallette of materials includes timber and zinc set against an expressed brickwork frame.The simple brick detailing includes full brick reveals to the door and window openings to suggest a weight and mass that contrasts with the adjacent areas of glazing.
Our Team
- Paul Baxter
- Michael Bayly
- Philip Dring
- Chris Mason
- Melita Tomic
Project Team
- Client: Essex County Council
- Project Management: Skansaka
- Cost Planning: EC Harris
- Structural Engineer: Arup
- Services Engineer: HBS
- Landscape Architect: Macgregor Smith
- Acoustician: SRL
- Fire Engineer: Buro Happold
- Contractor: Skanska
- Photography: Alan Williams
