Client Design Adviser to London Borough of Ealing
Ealing BSF & Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School is an existing large secondary school in Greenford West London. The school was substantially rebuilt for £25 million under Ealing’s BSF programme. The school needed to expand for additional numbers, quite a challenge as the school was to remain open throughout the four year reconstruction. The site was cramped and run-down, and the design needed to resolve the curriculum planning at the same time as allow for extensive reconstruction. This was one of the last schools to be completed under the BSF programme; Cayford Design was Client Adviser to Ealing Council, working closely with the school.
Key Outcomes:
A very successful result which after several years of complex phased construction with the school open throughout, created a major positive transformation to the school.
Our Approach
Paul was Client Design Advisor (CDA) for Ealing’s £350 million Building Schools for the Future Programme.
The main purpose of the role was to guide the Council on selection of the partner to deliver the entire programme of 18 schools. The CDA was the key pivot between the school / Local Authority team and the competing bidders. The role took tremendous discretion and professionalism due to the high stakes of the prize and the cost to the contractors of participating.
Our Process
The CDA role included working closely with the school to interpret their vision into diagrams and a written brief. Various methods of client engagement were employed, from building precedent visits, to interactive workshops. We fed this information into the detailed architectural design process.
The Results
In all we created seven briefs for major school rebuilds, and two schools of approximate cost £25 million each were constructed. The transformation of Cardinal Wiseman is an exemplar of how cramped and poorly maintained buildings can be transformed to enhance students’ lives in the twenty-first century.
- Customer Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
- Field Education
- Location Greenford
- Year 2014
London Borough of Ealing Cardinal Wiseman School