Houlton School

In Rugby, 57 aerial masts and a radio station are the genesis for the beginning of a new town, centred around the recently finished Houlton School. The carefully considered design of the School by Van Heyningen & Haward (VHH), is the successful retrofit of a collection of historic, grade 2 listed radio station buildings. Its cost-effective evolution into a thriving, sustainable secondary school comes through the careful integration of the previous buildings and by choosing to use products that fitted soundly within the pre-existing vernacular.

Adapting the original framework to today’s standards was a job that took years to come to fruition, careful application of steel frame and the restoration of the original brickwork has meant that the two main listed structures, Transmission Hall and Power Hall will become a place of learning for generations of students. Handmade clay bricks provided by Michelmersh were vital to the restoration of the project, where they were used to ensure the structures could be repaired and retained rather than rebuilt from the ground up.

Throughout the project, various elements of the building's industrial past have been retained, with arched windows and high ceilings to ensure that the history of this nearly century-old building is revered, but not overpowering compared to its newly instated modern sensibilities.

Houlton School recently won the Refurbishment Category at the BDA Brick Awards.