King's Leadership Academy – Projects

This new-build secondary and sixth-form free school was designed to reflect the Academy’s focus on leadership.

A double-height colonnade and a feature entrance give a sense of arrival. Designed around a central atrium, natural light is maximised into each of the classrooms. The classrooms themselves each have louvres fitted within the windows to draw in fresh air and “chimneys” to extract used air.

A multi-use auditorium with bleacher seating for 250 people gives the school a ‘university feel’ and can be used to hold conferences and lectures. The seating folds down so that the space can be used for other activities, including dance and performing arts, as well as by a regional fencing centre and the wider community during evenings and weekends.

The building is orientated to help regulate its internal temperature naturally. Recyclable and highly insulated building fabric elements and sustainable features such as photovoltaic cells and a biomass boiler have been used.