Projects
York College Construction Centre – York
Bowman Riley supported York College on the significant extension of their construction centre to facilitate the introduction of T-Level qualifications in construction-related courses at the College.
Under the existing framework agreement with York College, we provided contract administration, building surveying, cost consultancy, architecture, project management and the principal designer role. The two-storey extension is adjacent to the main campus building. The ground floor expanded joinery and brickwork workshops, accommodating all construction-related courses, while the first floor housed specialist laboratories, classrooms, and IT suites.
The 44-week construction programme was strategically phased outside of term time. Temporary marquee structures were installed due to COVID-19, providing immediate teaching spaces for construction-related courses. We managed this interim solution, ensuring continuity of teaching until the permanent extension’s completion. Collaborating with York College, Adept engineers, and RPS MEP specialists using a shared Revit model facilitated coordinated design and successful project execution.
The construction centre extension addressed immediate space requirements, demonstrating innovative problem-solving and a commitment to sustainability. It achieved a Very Good BREEAM rating. Completed within budget and on schedule, the project provided the College with state-of-the-art facilities for T-level qualifications.
Please see our other education projects.
Morley Learning & Skills Centre – Leeds
Morley, Leeds
Luminate Education Group
Bowman Riley is providing architecture on the transformation of a historic building within a conservation area in south Leeds into the Morley Learning and Skills Centre for Luminate Education Group.
Leeds City Council and Leeds City College have partnered to transform the former St Mary’s in the Wood church hall, dating back to 1900, into a new adult training facility. The facility will provide training to boost the skills of adults, particularly in emerging and new technologies, to help local people gain the skills they need to maximise their potential.
The council purchased the Grade II-listed building using part of the £24.3 million Morley Towns Fund grant, part of the government’s national Levelling Up initiative.
We are providing architecture alongside Curtins civil and structural engineers and TB&A mechanical and electrical engineers as part of our team to achieve planning and Listed Building consent. The proposal outlines an educational facility with a learning zone, teaching spaces and classrooms.
Our role has involved extensive stakeholder engagement with the College and local community, who welcome the development. The project involves internal and external alterations, works to the existing building elements and new additions, including a lift, external ramp and learning pod. The external works include a new rear external enclosure, hard surface alterations and new external landscaping.
The Morley Learning and Skills Centre is planned to open in late 2025. It will be an exciting addition to Morley and a place for developing skills in the town centre.
Please see our other education projects.
Brooklands Special School – Skipton, North Yorkshire
Bowman Riley has created designs to enhance the provision of teaching and care facilities at Brooklands School in Skipton to transform the lives of more than 80 pupils aged four to 19 with special educational needs through the Yorkshire Children’s Charity Big Build initiative.
We offered our design services free of charge to refurbish the early years’ classrooms, revamp the dilapidated external areas, including providing wheelchair access to the play areas, and reorganisation of the existing sensory room to create a bigger facility with improved air circulation. The project also consists of the replacement of a garage with a new build specialist rebound therapy centre, which uses trampolines to promote movement, therapeutic exercise, and recreation.
Working as part of a team that includes GMI Construction, Rex Proctor & Partners, and Re-form Landscape Architects, this scheme will deliver state-of-the-art facilities, creating an environment where staff are re-energised to teach and children are excited to learn.
We have also developed further proposals and will continue to support the school in bringing these ideas to fruition in the future.
In addition to our design work, a team of volunteers from our local offices spent a day working on the school grounds, clearing overgrown greenery to create a fairy garden and an area for the children to enjoy pond dipping.
Bowman Riley was awarded ‘Outstanding Contributor’ at the Yorkshires – Commercial Real Estates Awards 2023 for our work on this project.
At Bowman Riley, each member of our team is entitled to a day’s paid volunteering to help a local charity or community group as part of our commitment to social value.
“We work extremely hard to ensure these incredibly special young people have everything they need but our budget only goes so far. I’m thrilled and gratified that the Great Yorkshire Build will make such a difference to our pupils, their families, and our dedicated staff, and I thank all those taking part.”
Fran Cracknell, Headteacher, Brooklands School.
Sandy Lane Primary School Refurbishment – Bradford
Sandy Lane Primary School needed to refurbish its early year’s spaces to create a new nursery and to accommodate two reception classes. Their vision is for their early years’ provision to work cohesively together within the space with joint resources.
Bowman Riley provided contract administration to help procure the project, draft the specification and tender process and a full interior design service from concept design, layouts, and visualisations to the construction of the tender package for the appointment of the contractor, Construction North Group to undertake the works.
Working closely with the teaching staff, we created initial layouts for the spaces based on their practical needs and requirements. Building upon this, we then generated high-quality visuals to help the school community envision how the layout would work. Specifically, we demonstrated how the interior choices and materials shape the spaces, including paint details, rafts and lighting to enhance the children’s experience.
The result of our design is three spaces with toilets and a one-to-one reading area that work seamlessly together whilst retaining a private feature for each space. The redesign opens up the spaces for better visibility of the children and a greatly enhanced aesthetic, inviting imaginative play.
Each space is decorated with fun accents along with cork walls designed for children’s artwork displays. The spaces include cloud rafts and suspended garland wreaths, as well as a feature grass carpet in each reading area and new kitchenettes for messy play.
“We have been really happy with the service we have been provided. The team has been great to work with, and it’s been exciting seeing the plan for our new early year’s provision come to life over the past few months. I have found Bowman Riley to be very professional and easy to work with. This is the first time I have had to develop a project like this and the team helped make the project simple and manageable”.
Fiona Newsome, Sandy Lane Primary School
Student Experience Hub – York College
Bowman Riley designed a bespoke new reception, student services zone with an integrated waiting area and new learning resources space for York College under our current framework agreement.
Our brief was to create a welcoming and efficient space for students, staff and visitors on arrival at the college uniting the reception area with the student services information centre.
We created a more open plan and welcoming layout that feels modern and conveys the college’s branding. The bright colours within the design enhance mood and wellbeing as well as tie through the colleges branding to ensure continuity throughout the spaces
The project involved refurbishing and remodelling the existing space, removing the finance area to make way for a new reception pod, new waiting area, informal meeting spaces and private booths with interactive screens and tablets with course, application and enrolment information.
We also refurbished and re-configured the learning resource centres for students creating more spaces for students to work and collaborate with access to power and PCs. The furniture selected was designed to enable quiet working, group working and encourage collaboration and socialising amongst the students.
The spaces enhance the students’ experience by offering them options depending on their tasks and working preferences. We have also designed showcase areas for displaying student work to increase course visibility across the college.
Please see our other projects for York College; the Atrium Roof Repair and Institute of Technology projects.
Motor Vehicle Extension – York College
York College
Bowman Riley provided multi-discipline consultancy services to provide York College with a motor vehicle extension to the specialist motor vehicle and engineering campus.
The £600,000 project has created a state-of-the-art workshop facility for mechanics, engineers and vehicle technicians of the future to train in a modern, purpose-built environment. This building further enhances the College’s ability to provide a wide range of vocational courses in motor vehicle maintenance and engineering.
We provided architecture, project management, building surveying, contract administration and the role of principal designer in-house working alongside structural engineers Adept, mechanical and electrical engineers RPS and the contractor, Harris CM.
The major challenges overcome on the project were the uncertainties of a physical start on site due to the national lockdown in Spring and the need to divert the gas and water mains during construction. Teamwork and a positive outlook by the project team and client resulted in practical completion in the Autumn term of 2020.
York College opened its doors in 2007 to more than 13,000 students on the south-western gateway to the City and at the time, the landmark £60 million campus was one of the largest building projects of its kind in the country.
Bowman Riley has been working with York College since 2018 when the company successfully bid to provide multi-discipline consultancy services under a framework agreement.
Please see our other projects for York College; the Atrium Roof Repair and Institute of Technology projects.
York College – Institute of Technology Projects
York College
York
Bowman Riley supported York College in the successful application for Government funding to create an Institute of Technology, which led to a series of refurbishment projects.
This Government initiative facilitates high-quality skills training based around existing colleges and universities to offer young people a vocational alternative to the traditional academic route at university.
Under our current framework agreement, we pulled together the combined expertise of our in-house architects and building surveyors to prepare a feasibility report to support the funding application with the wider project team including the cost consultants McLeod & Aitken, structural engineers Adept and mechanical and electrical engineers.
The funding was secured and York College was selected as one of only 12 Institutes of Technology in England.
This funding confirmed the viability of several refurbishment and remodelling schemes across the campus under the Institute of Technology banner introducing modern and emerging technologies to facilitate the teaching of technology-oriented courses.
The refurbishment projects include the remodelling of the library, circulation areas, the plumbing teaching spaces and the media make-up spaces. The contractor delivering the projects is Morris & Spottiswood.
See other case studies for York College – the Atrium Roof Repair.
The Faculty of Management and Law – University of Bradford
Bowman Riley supported the extensive remodelling of the Bright, Pemberton and Ashfield buildings to become the Faculty of Management and Law, a brand new cutting-edge facility on the University of Bradford’s city campus.
The Faculty of Management and Law 120 staff teach and administer its portfolio of undergraduate, master’s, MBA, and doctoral programmes. The Faculty is highly regarded with accreditations that place the University in an elite group of Business Schools.
The University of Bradford decided to consolidate and relocate the Faculty of Management & Law from their Emm Lane Campus back to the City Centre Campus split between the existing Bright Building, Ashfield and Pemberton buildings. We provided a feasibility study into the project, specifically looking at the opportunities for energy efficiency, the long-term flexibility of the building with space identified for future expansion of each department, the phasing approach to ensure minimal disruption to the University, the sequencing of relocating existing building occupants, and identifying project risks.
The Pemberton and Ashfield buildings had not been refurbished since the 1980s, and the Bright building, completed in 2009, was to become the University’s focal point for the new Management and Law School.
We provided the roles of architect, project manager, contract administrator, building surveyor and principal designer on a new Faculty, which offers research, learning, exhibition and business incubation space.
The two 1980s buildings were dark and heavily partitioned. Our refurbishment works increased ceiling heights and opened areas with new LED lighting to create a brighter, healthier, more sustainable environment. The result is an interior that offers a contemporary and dynamic place for students enabling various space configurations to support modern learning methods with acoustic ceiling discs to absorb sound. The tech sector inspired the design with exposed services and building fabric, creating an industrial feel offset by a colourful furniture package.
A key design challenge involved creating space for the various practical scenario areas, including a mock courtroom, an innovation hub, the Barclay’s Eagle Lab and the Bloomberg Trading Room.
The mock law courtroom was officially opened by Lady Brenda Hale, president of the highest court in the land, and unveiled in her name. Lady Hale applauded the new mock courtroom facility aimed at bringing the gravity and drama of the UK’s justice system to life for students and the wider community as a space for potential witnesses to understand the daunting court process.
Now complete, the project has brought The Faculty of Management and Law into the city centre campus by remodelling and refurbishing existing university buildings and making them modern and bright, befitting the prestige of the Schools.
New Arts Centre – Outwood Grange Academy – Wakefield
Outwood Grange Academy
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed the new £6.5 million Sir Michael Wilkins Arts Centre at Outwood Grange Academy to house the departments of drama, dance, music and art.
The new centre features a multi-purpose flexible performance space, galleries and state-of-the-art music recording studios, which used not only for teaching and performing spaces but also allow collaborative working with visiting arts practitioners and community use.
A significant challenge was to design the new building on a well-developed site. We carefully considered the masterplanning of the site and enabling projects to ensure that the new arts centre will not stymie future developments at the school site.
The project had a limited budget, so it was important that we maximised all available space to ensure the best value from the school’s investment.
Outwood Grange Academy is one of the largest secondary schools and sixth forms in England. In recent years, the Academy has seen major redevelopment work improving the grounds, buildings and facilities to accommodate its burgeoning pupil population and update the ageing estate.
Bowman Riley worked with Outwood Grange for over five years providing consultancy services to survey the school estate, undertake access audits and upgrade existing facilities. In 2011, we designed the 2000m² sports hall, gymnasium and fitness suite.
Rossett Acre Primary School New Classrooms – Harrogate
Red Kite Learning Trust
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed a new teaching building for Rossett Acre, a successful two-form entry primary school on the south side of Harrogate, part of the Red Kite Learning Trust.
Involved throughout the duration of the project, we initially provided feasibility designs to secure Condition Improvement Funding (CIF) to replace two existing temporary classrooms that had deteriorated beyond economical repair. We then went on to create the concept designs, planning and tender drawings before novation to the contractor, SCS Projects Ltd, to deliver the working drawing package.
The new building accommodates two new classrooms and adjacent WC facilities for children aged 10-11 years old in Year 6 designed to give pupils a sense of independence in preparation for their journey onto secondary school.
The new block needed to be the maximum build size of 152m² for compliance with the funding criteria. Balancing this requirement with the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) minimum area sizes and the school’s unique teaching ethos presented its own challenges to create the maximum usable space.
Rossett Acre School wanted the ability to open up the two classrooms to create one larger space to bring the pupils together for collaborative teaching across the year group. We achieved this by locating class bases adjacent each other with a direct link between the two teaching spaces to allow for larger group activities to take place between the year group.
The building design and orientation maximise natural daylight into the teaching spaces from the south elevation while reducing solar heat gain via the projecting roof canopy. Underfloor heating was provided via an air source heat pump.
New Sandside Lodge – Special Educational Needs School
Ulverston, Cumbria
Bowman Riley was appointed by Seddon Construction to design a new school for Sandside Lodge. The school caters for 80 pupils from 2 – 19 years olds, who have learning difficulties and many have additional and complex needs such as autism, physical disabilities and sensory impairments.
Located in the grounds of the local secondary school, the new school replaces an existing facility that was no longer fit for purpose located adjacent to an industrial estate.
Appointed via the North West Construction Hub framework as the main contractor, Seddon found that the initial design would be significantly over the agreed budget. Seddon explored the possibility of creating a modular school and brought Bowman Riley on board to develop the design. The modular construction route was found to be still too expensive. This resulted in our appointment to completely redesign the school in liaison with the local authority to ensure the design met the agreed budget.
We developed a close relationship with the end-user group of staff, support workers, parents and children through a series of workshops to ensure the design meets their specialist requirements.
Facilities include a medical room designed to HTM standards, hydrotherapy suite, rebound therapy room, gym, soft play, sensory rooms. Externally there is an outdoor woodland area to facilitate forestry skills and sensory gardens.
The project was delivered in time for the start of the new academic year in September 2019.
The development went on to win the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Award at the Constructing Excellence National Awards.
Major Expansion Project – Harrogate Grammar School
Harrogate Grammar School/Red Kite Learning Trust
Bowman Riley designed a major expansion project at Harrogate Grammar School to increase space following growing demand for pupil places at this high performing academy.
We designed a new building to connect the 1930s school building to a 1960s design block with three classrooms on the first floor and a large atrium below, which forms the new student entrance. The project means the school can increase the number of places available to 290 annually.
The project infills an external courtyard to reuse space within the footprint of the 1930s building with the new double-height central atrium space providing flexible teaching and exhibition space, with three new general teaching classrooms at first-floor level. This has created naturally light-filled spaces with natural ventilation to create a sustainable environment.
The new spaces improve circulation through the school and provide a new student-focused entrance. Previously students, staff and visitors all had to use the same narrow entrance. A key driver for the project was to improve connections throughout the existing school, therefore, as part of our designs, we reworked the existing floor levels to improve accessibility.
The project began in January 2020 and was completed in the October despite the challenges brought on by the lockdown period as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Headteacher, Neil Renton said:
“We are indebted to the professionalism of the architects’ Bowman Riley and Sewell Construction… From the very start, we were impressed with the entire team. This was a complex build at the very heart of the school that resulted in significant changes to the movement of over 2,000 students around the school site. I am really proud of what has been achieved. The way in which all the teams involved have come together has been a masterclass in collaboration, expert knowledge and providing the very best for children.”
Click here to read an article about this project in the local media.
Photography credit: the Sewell Group: https://sewell-group.co.uk/
The Chiltern School New Modular Building
Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire
Bowman Riley designed a new modular school building at The Chiltern School, a coeducational school for pupils with a range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Located over two sites in Dunstable and Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, the school accepts pupils aged between 3 and 19 years from all over the central Bedfordshire area. The school was in need of additional classroom space to accommodate growing pupil numbers since its formation in 2012.
Working for modular contractor Reds10 and alongside procurement specialists AMR Consult, we designed a new modular building at the Houghton Regis site. The building was designed to accommodate four classrooms, each with a storage room, central corridor and WC provision.
Manufactured off-site and installed on site over a three week period, the new building was delivered successfully to a high quality and on a fast-track basis during the summer holiday period.
The photograph shows an identical unit installed at Chiltern Primary School.
York College Central Atrium Roof Repairs
York College
York
Following our successful appointment onto the framework at York College, Bowman Riley was commissioned to design, specify and project manage the repair of a leaking glazed atrium situated on the College’s roof.
York College is ranked Yorkshire’s No 1 further education college with first-class facilities constructed within the last 12 years and designed specifically for post-16 students.
The brief on the York College atrium project was challenging as it involved Bowman Riley facilitating a long-term atrium repair system that fell within their £100k budget and could be undertaken during the student’s six-week summer break.
We developed a repair specification that allowed for replacement of failed seals, gaskets and bolts followed by the application of a two-part polyurethane waterproof coating system that carried a 20-year guarantee. The works were undertaken by means of an Easydeck access system, which allowed safe access to the atrium at roof level and was combined with fall arrest and debris netting fixed beneath the atrium to ensure the health and safety of the contractors and the building occupants alike.
Despite occasionally challenging weather conditions, the works were successfully completed on both time and to budget to the full satisfaction of the College.
JB Priestley Library Refurbishment – University of Bradford
University of Bradford
Bradford
Bowman Riley designed and managed the refurbishment of the JB Priestley library under an ongoing framework agreement with the University of Bradford.
Located on the main city campus, the refurbishment of the building forms part of the ongoing restructuring of the library facilities to enhance the student learning experience.
Bowman Riley was pivotal to the success of the project providing project management, building surveying, contract administration, principal designer and interior design services.
Student requests for improved group study areas led to the decision to relocate the University’s IT department to the second floor of the library. This move released space on the lower ground floor for a series of group learning facilities.
The lower ground floor had previously been used for a series of cellular rooms, which made the area feel enclosed and dark. We created a large open-plan light and vibrant learning space by demolishing internal walls and using the existing waffle deck structural concrete ceiling.
The result is an interior that offers a contemporary and dynamic area for students enabling various space configurations to support modern learning methods with acoustic ceiling discs to absorb sound. The design was inspired by the tech sector with exposed services and building fabric creating an industrial feel that is offset by a colourful furniture package.
Opened by Professor Shirley Congdon, Vice-Chancellor of the University, the new facility was completed successfully and has been met with extremely positive feedback from students resulting in the instruction of another phase to create more open plan space within the building.
The Oakwell Centre – Dewsbury and District Hospital
Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed and managed The Oakwell Centre, a new School of Nursing at the Dewsbury and District Hospital under the framework agreement with the University of Bradford.
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust identified the need to offer a locally based degree programme to attract student nurses that may not otherwise apply to a University nursing course outside of the district. With this in mind, the Trust approached the University to deliver a satellite nursing degree programme at Dewsbury and District Hospital.
The objective was to create an on-site learning facility that will allow for up to 80 trainee nurses to learn whilst gaining practical hospital experience.
The project involved the refurbishment and reconfiguration of a 460m2 flat-roofed building constructed in 1960 that had been used as a training and archive facility and had not been extensively refurbished for forty years.
We undertook a space planning exercise to make sure the spaces met the needs of the users and to created the best use of the available space. We specified and arranged the installation of all finishes and fittings.
The Oakwell Centre was completed within the client’s target timescales in preparation for the intake of students in the new academic year and opened by Professor Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for England.
University of Bradford Framework
Under a framework agreement, Bowman Riley provides multi-disciplined services as the single supplier for the provision of the University of Bradford’s professional services.
The University of Bradford received its Royal Charter in 1966 but its origins date back to the early 19th century. The University has a diverse and complex estate with many Victorian and 1960s and 1970s buildings. Our support helps the University to get the best out of their assets.
Our team has worked at the University for over nine years successfully delivering over 500 schemes. We understand the multifaceted stakeholders, evolving priorities and objectives and the requirement for flexibility and future proofing.
Our knowledge of the construction forms and the service installations across the estate enables us to respond quickly to the inherent design confinements and challenges such as frame span restrictions, wall construction, floor slab and rebar limitations, vibration issues, access/fire compliance, thermal performance and asbestos. Identifying design considerations from the outset provides greater efficiency for the University.
Our knowledge of the University’s procurement processes, stakeholder sign-off procedures, project board and workbook processes has enabled us to deliver fast-track strategies to ensure the design, programme and financial objectives are achieved. We completed a £500k refurbishment of the Workshop Block following a five-week design and tender period.
Our extensive knowledge of the estate and our team’s expertise and commitment to the University has formed a trusted advisor relationship with the university’s estate team.
View the latest completed project with the University: Health & Wellbeing Centre
Leeds College of Art Concept
Leeds College
Bowman Riley was invited to submit design proposals for a new teaching building for the Leeds College of Art. With it’s campus close to capacity, the college needed new accommodation to grow to meet the ongoing demand for student places.
Our proposals offered an architecturally distinctive design to create new contemporary face for the college.
The design for the new four-storey building features a dynamic, light filled multi-height circulation space. A special events space for displays, performances and socialising draws people through the building designed as a sculptural composition that reflects the college’s art based curriculum and a dynamic cladding of LED displays to give the building a dynamic street frontage.
View more of our education experience here
The Great Hall, James Graham Building – Leeds Beckett University
Leeds
Bowman Riley successfully designed and delivered a £1.3 million refurbishment of The Great Hall within the landmark James Graham Building as part of the wider refurbishment of the Headingley Campus.
Built in 1912 as a purpose built training college, the Grade II James Graham Building is a large three storey redbrick building designed in the renaissance style presiding over three acres of parkland.
Bowman Riley designed the restoration of The Great Hall from the campus library back to its original purpose as a large flexible space.
The project entailed the removal and subsequent relocation of the campus library. The new library facility was designed to a smaller footprint with greatly improved functionality.
The restored Great Hall now seats 200 people for formal dinners and accommodates 350 for receptions and exhibitions. Our designs retained and restored the period features including the wood-paneling and grand windows whilst introducing state-of-the-art AV technologies.
View more of our education experience here
New Science Building – Harrogate Grammar School
Harrogate Grammar School
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed a new science building for Harrogate Grammar School, an independent academy trust, with over 1,850 students including over 550 in the Sixth Form.
Science is a key area of the curriculum and the creation of first-class facilities help further students’ enthusiasm for the subject. The new building replaced a crumbling 1950s science block that was built at a time of austerity to a much lower standard than the original 1930s stone and brick school.
Harrogate Grammar School received £1 million funding from the Education Funding Agency to create the new science facilities. The funding was received in the April and the new building was needed by September in time for the start of the new academic year.
Bowman Riley proposed a modular building to enable the new facility to be delivered on a fast track basis with erection off-site to minimise disruption to the operations of the school.
The design features a striking entrance and contemporary facade that are juxtaposed between the classically detailed existing building to create a prominent addition to the campus.
The building houses four new laboratories and a preparation room with a new link corridor on the ground floor level to the existing school building to reduce congestion at the busiest area of the school.
Kirkstall Brewery Student Accommodation – Leeds Beckett University
Kirkstall, Leeds
Bowman Riley transformed the derelict Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds into award-winning accommodation for over 1000 students.
This significant education project entailed the design of a new building and the re-use of a series of substantial 19th century listed buildings adjacent to the Leeds – Liverpool canal forming part of the regeneration of this area of Leeds.
The development involved the adaption and re-use of listed buildings with a massing of new build forms that maintain the strength and stature of the original brewery.
A safe and accessible student village was created, which is an imaginative social use for the site and an opportunity to conserve and enhance the character and identity of this area.
Kirkstall Brewery Residences won the City of Leeds Award for Architecture, was praised by Professor Derek Linstrum FSA architectural historian and featured in the RIBA publication: Leeds, Shaping the City.
Oatlands Junior School Extension – Harrogate
Oatlands Junior School
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Bowman Riley was commissioned to design a new extension building and reconfigure the layout of Oatlands Junior School, a large, popular school in Harrogate.
The layout of the 1960s school needed a fresh approach to improve the entrance and reception and to safeguard the pupils. The school building had multiple entry points, confusing navigation including the main hall used as a circulation route, a lack of security and a reception located in a corridor.
Bowman Riley designed a 120m2 infill building to provide a new entrance and reception area giving the school a sense of identity, a welcoming entry point for pupils, staff, parents and visitors for general use and school events. This places the reception at the heart of the school.
Our role involved the rationalisation of the school including improving the navigation around the school, controlling entry points and access to safeguard the pupils.
The main hall was removed from the circulation route and the dining facilities were improved to avoid disruption to the learning environment. We also enabled controlled access to the staff room and head teachers office.
This enabling project was formed part of the wider plans for the school and in 2015, Bowman Riley undertook a feasibility study for a new building to accommodate two new classrooms, WC, associated plant, a courtyard and a link corridor.
Sixth Form Pavilion – Harrogate Grammar School
Harrogate Grammar School
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Harrogate Grammar School, an independent academy trust, is a specialist Language and Technology College in Harrogate with 1,700 pupils, of which 400 pupils are in the sixth form.
To accommodate the school’s ever-expanding further education 16-19 section, Bowman Riley was commissioned directly by the School to design and provide CDM coordination on a new £2 million Sixth Form Pavilion to replace temporary classrooms.
The new Pavilion provides purpose-built, world-class facilities for the students to learn, succeed and be prepared to take the next step into higher education or employment.
All sixth form facilities are now housed together on one site that contains well-equipped teaching classrooms, supervised areas for independent study, spaces for students to work collaboratively, laboratories, social spaces and a cloister garden. The laboratories are specifically for sixth form use and are fully equipped for the study of all three sciences at an advanced level.
The Forum is a lecture theatre with retractable seating of 300, which provides a focal point for the academic work of the school and accommodates a variety of events including conferences, open days and student performances.
Harrogate Grammar School is proud of their outstanding sixth form facilities, which are matched by the outstanding achievements of their students.
Faculty of Life Sciences – University of Bradford
University of Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire
At the University of Bradford, Faculty of Life Sciences has the highest number of students of all of the schools, with more than 2,000 students.
They provide a variety of courses in the areas of Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Forensic Science, Clinical Sciences, Optometry, Pharmacy and Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences.
Bowman Riley designed and project managed the first phase of a £4.3 million major refurbishment of the School of Life Sciences. The project involved the modernisation of the biomedical science laboratories, the forensic enhancement suite, clinical skills and aseptic suites.
The development incorporate integrated learning, state of the art technology and high quality audio visual (AV) interactive simulation equipment.
The first phase of this prestigious development has been successfully delivered and has set the quality and standards for the later stages to create a world class teaching facility.
Digital Health Enterprise Zone Academic Building – Bradford
Bowman Riley provided the roles of architect, client’s agent, party wall surveyor and principal designer on a new research and innovation centre for The University of Bradford and the Digital Health Enterprise Zone created to support the research and development of digital health innovations to improve the lives of people living with long-term conditions.
The rambling and under-used 19th-century mill complex, Phoenix South West, on the University’s campus has undergone an extensive transformation to become a leading edge digital health research facility entitled the Digital Health Enterprise Zone Academic Building. The design retains many original features including cast iron columns and a structural frame supporting a north-light roof profile to a large part of the building.
It is the University’s focal point for access to the newest technology, research, and projects in digital health. The key design challenge involved creating a visual identity for the various parties housed in the Centre as a unified community and to provide a gateway to the campus that is accessible to the public.
The centre offers four floors of research, learning, exhibition and business incubation space. It has public clinics for physiotherapy, eye examinations and reviews of patient medicines. A key feature is a full-size two bedroom Technology Smart House that links to a 50-seat lecture theatre.
The Technology House will serve as a dynamic demonstrator of research and undergraduate and postgraduate projects to showcase technological advancement in digital health that can benefit people in their homes.
Bowman Riley has played a pivotal role in the delivery of the building from condition surveys and feasibility reports to the full design of the project. Our client’s agent oversaw the project’s delivery to ensure that the client’s vision was maintained and the works were completed to the highest standard.
Richmond and Norcroft Building Refurbishment – University of Bradford
University of Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley Building Consultancy was commissioned to provide design and management and the role of principal designer on the refurbishment of facilities within the 1960s Richmond Building and Norcroft Building on the University of Bradford campus.
The University needed to refurbish a combination of Cat 2 and general laboratories, radiography facilities, 3D printing facilities with offices and high quality exhibition areas for the School of Life Sciences. It was important to ensure that the structure and services in the building were suitably designed in terms of load and vibration to accommodate the high-tech laboratory equipment.
The new facilities were designed to achieve technical performance whilst creating high quality, contemporary teaching facilities that represent the first class standards the University aspires to provide for its students.
As part of the wider campus development, the project was designed to enable the University’s new Health & Wellbeing Centre come to fruition by decanting the School of Life Sciences into the Richmond Building.
The project involved working across three sites with the management of multiple stakeholders within tight time scales.
The refurbishment was undertaken in a live teaching environment. The management of the works was cognisant of noise levels and University staff were relocated as necessary during the project duration.
Atrium Building Refresh – University of Bradford
University of Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley provided interior design and health & safety services on the refurbishment of the Atrium building for the University of Bradford to improve functionality and the aesthetic appeal for students and staff.
Built in 2006, the University of Bradford’s large Atrium connects different academic buildings, serving as a hub for students, staff, and visitors. It’s a flexible, dynamic space the University uses for informal meetings, open days, recruitment fairs and graduation shows. However, the Atrium faced several challenges concerning sound transmission, drafts, and heat, which affected the overall ambience and user experience.
We conducted a thorough assessment of the Atrium and developed a design that addressed the challenges while incorporating the University’s vision and requirements.
Specific features we introduced included: dual-purpose solar shading in the form of acrylic discs suspended across the space to act as an acoustic barrier and create a scriptural feature, a built-in video wall on the balcony balustrade displaying imagery, a green breakout space in collaboration with a landscape architect to regenerate an adjacent under-used external area.
The new design has given the Atrium a fresh and modern look, making it a more inviting and attractive space with new flooring, furniture, and contemporary furnishings.
The redesign of the Atrium by Bowman Riley has had a significant impact on the University’s community, demonstrating the importance of user-focused design in creating functional and energy-efficient spaces. The spaces are now more modern, practical, and attractive, providing a better experience for students, staff, and for external hires to bring additional revenue to the University.
Hogsthorpe Primary Academy Extension – Lincolnshire
David Ross Education Trust
Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire
Hogsthorpe Primary Academy is a small Victorian school set on the edge of a village in Lincolnshire. The school comprised several brick buildings with extensions including an array of out-dated modular buildings. The school used the modular buildings as classrooms and a hall, which doubled up as a classroom. The school needed to increase teaching space to support learning and allow the main hall to be a separate entity with links back to the original building.
Bowman Riley designed a new contemporary extension to the school. The extension accommodates two new classrooms and a multi-use hall with a shared play area, which connects both the classrooms back to the main school building. Both classrooms were designed to have direct access to a new covered outdoor learning area.
The new accessible entrance lobby and toilet facilities enhance the facilities for the wider community, which provides the school with the opportunity to rent out the hall to the local community as an additional source of revenue. The new building was created to be in keeping with the main school to maintain a sense of unity throughout the site by using soft natural materials. The building was designed to be well-used throughout the whole school year. The construction was robust to deal with its daily use and long term maintenance.
The building is well-insulated with excellent quality materials selected for their lifecycle impact/embodied energy. Finishes were selected to be durable, safe and help noise control.
“Our new facilities have completely transformed the learning environment for our pupils. We now have a dedicated early years area, with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as a brand new school hall that the whole academy and local community can enjoy.”
Karin Nicholls, Headteacher, Hogsthorpe Primary Academy
Leslie Silver Building Refurbishment – Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leeds Beckett University city campus originally comprised of a cluster of 1960s buildings on different levels with a main entrance on Calverley Street. The principal footfall was predominantly on Woodhouse Lane but this was the designated service access to the buildings. The University needed a new gateway building on Woodhouse Lane as an infill between the existing buildings to create a unified learning environment.
Bowman Riley designed the refurbishment of the existing buildings and created a landmark new building. We designed an enabling project to refurbish the student union in the basement of one of the existing buildings. This paved the way for the refurbishment of the existing buildings involving the external recladding and full interior refresh in a live environment.
We addressed the issue of the changes on level between the existing buildings and new infill building. We used the changes in level to create an double height glazed entrance and mall on the new build with lifts to access all floors.
The new building was designed to accommodate a library to centralise the University’s library facilities that were fractured across campus. The library is a critical learning resource providing information and learning support facilities 24/7 throughout the year.
We held workshops with library staff, academics and students to examine the methods used to store and access library items. We explored the way the students learned individually and in groups and the interfaces with IT. These workshops helped shape our design to meet the aspirations of the users.
We created a legible series of spaces and routes that facilitated orientation and enabled diverse user groups to easily navigate through the building complex. A state-of-the-art learning environment was created across five floors making provision for modern learning methods and advancements in IT.
Prince Henry’s Grammar School Refurbishment and New Build Sixth Form Facilities – Leeds
Prince Henry’s Grammar School
Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Prince Henry’s Grammar School is a 1400 pupil secondary school and sixth form within a conservation area in Otley. The school moved to the present site in 1923 when the original stone clad two-storey double courtyard building, was constructed.
Bowman Riley worked with Prince Henry’s to facilitate their vision of becoming internationally recognised as a successful learning community that provides outstanding education. Working collaboratively with the school, we appraised the estate and produced a strategic development plan to enable future projects to be delivered on an incremental basis as the funding became available with the emphasis on creating an identity and hub for its sixth form students.
This resulted in funding secured from the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund to undertake a full refurbishment of the historic building. We designed and project managed significant improvements including: roofing maintenance, stonework repairs, replacing the remaining wooden windows, refurbishing the clock tower and internal modernisation. This investment brought the historic building up to date and reduced the need to use a significant portion of the school’s annual budget to patch repair the building. The refurbishment acted as an enabling project for the building of a new sixth form hub.
To accommodate the new sixth form facilities, we designed the 600m2 infill of an existing courtyard providing a central flexible hub with a café and meeting room. This central device improved connections with series of adjacent spaces namely the halls, classrooms, art rooms and two new teaching spaces.
The scheme presented multiple challenges, linking to the historical part of the school. The design was required within extremely tight timescales to ensure that the school complied with the constraints of the bid conditions for funding.
Leeds Dental Institute Refurbishment – University of Leeds
University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leeds Dental Institute is operated as a partnership between the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals to support the training of dental care professionals.
Bowman Riley was engaged to design, manage and administer the complex and fast-track reorganisation and refurbishment of the Institute based in Level 5 of the 1979 Worsley Building, one of the largest buildings in Leeds city centre.
The aim of the project was to provide state-of-the art dental facilities to meet the latest clinical standards, improve flexibility between departments and provide new equipment and upgraded technologies. The project comprised the relocation of radiology and acute dental care, the replacement and improvement of dental chairs, equipment and clinical cubicles, the improvement of circulation and flexibility between departments and the improved space utilisation maximising the number of dental cubicles available.
This multi-phased development was successfully delivered within a live clinical environment cognisant of the importance of sound proofing and dust reduction during the construction work to support infection control. A major challenge of the project was to minimise disruption to operations of the Institute and wider building users. The amount of available operating space was reduced during construction. To enable the Institute to operate effectively during construction, we introduced an innovative idea for the Institute to change their way of working by increasing the opening hours to a double shift for the project’s duration. As the Institute shares the plant and services with the entire building, part of our role was to liaise with the building user group to ensure the smooth development of the works.
University of Leeds Refurbishment Programme – Leeds
Bowman Riley partnered with the University of Leeds to support the long-term upgrade of its varied and complex estate.
We were commissioned to survey and design the upgrade of circa 50 University buildings, including a number of listed, highly engineered and highly serviced properties, to ensure full access for all in compliance with the Equality Act.
Established in 1904, the University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university and a member of the Russell Group. Its 1,230 acres of land contain a mixture of Gothic revival, Art Deco, Brutalist, and postmodern buildings, making it one of the most diverse university campuses in the country in terms of building styles and history.
As part of the programme, we worked a number of listed buildings including:
- Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall Grade II listed, formerly a Presbyterian church built in 1878-79
- E C Stoner (1968), five storey Grade II listed building designed by Chamberlin Powell and Bon
- The Brotherton Library (1936) – Grade II listed Beaux-Arts brick building
- The Great Hall 1894 – The Great Hall is a grade II listed Gothic Revival building
- Michael Sadler Building (1939) – one of the largest facilities on-campus with the 340 seat Rupert Becket Lecture Theatre
- The Garstang Building (1968) is a Grade II L shaped building designed by Chamberlin Powell and Bon
Brotherton Library External Lift – University of Leeds
University of Leeds
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley Building Consultancy was commissioned to provide architecture, project management and the role of principal designer on a new lift for the unique Brotherton Library on the main campus at the University of Leeds.The Brotherton Library is a 1936 Grade II listed Beaux-Arts brick building with art deco fittings. The original lift was designed to transport books between floors and cannot be modified to accommodate wheelchair users. The University needed a new lift to provide full wheelchair access to the library in line with the Equality Act Bowman Riley’s solution was to create a new external lift shaft and walkway. Centrally located, the lift provides access for all library users and improves the fire evacuation process for disabled users Initially the planners insisted on a traditional brick construction for the new lift, which is
The Brotherton Library is a 1936 Grade II listed Beaux-Arts brick building with art deco fittings. The original lift was designed to transport books between floors and cannot be modified to accommodate wheelchair users. The University needed a new lift to provide full wheelchair access to the library in line with the Equality Act.Bowman Riley’s solution was to create a new external lift shaft and walkway. Centrally located, the lift provides access for all library users and improves the fire evacuation process for disabled users Initially the planners insisted on a traditional brick construction for the new lift, which is
Bowman Riley’s solution was to create a new external lift shaft and walkway. Centrally located, the lift provides access for all library users and improves the fire evacuation process for disabled users.
Initially the planners insisted on a traditional brick construction for the new lift, which is labour intensive, costly and has increased health and safety risks. We actively engaged with the planners in the design process through early and continued consultation, which resulted in the agreement to install a steel frame lift shaft with a robust high performance cladding system. This reduced the construction programme on site, provided a financial cost saving and reduced disruption to the day to day activities of the highly utilised library facilities.
The design enables wheelchair users to obtain access to all floors of the Brotherton Library independently and with assistance if required.
University of Bradford Refurbishment Programme – Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire
Bowman Riley was commissioned by the University of Bradford to provide design services, project management and CDM coordination on a number of refurbishment projects on the Horton and Chesham buildings.
Both 1960s buildings needed substantial refurbishment works to improve their aesthetics, functionality and energy efficency.
The Chesham Building is occupied by the School of Engineering, Design and Technology and houses an Art Gallery. We designed and managed the internal refurbishment of the building. This involved stripping out the existing offices and academic spaces and reconfiguring the spaces to create open plan offices, meeting rooms and cellular offices with new air conditioning.
The Horton Building is occupied by the School of Computing, Informatics and Media and houses computer suites and media laboratories including a TV studio. We were involved in the re-cladding of the building to enhance its appearance and energy efficiency and the internal refurbishment of three floors.
All projects were successfully all undertaken in occupied and operational student-centred buildings.
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