Wirral Education Centre is a Grade II listed building in the Wirral local planning authority area, England. First listed on 28 March 1974. School.

Wirral Education Centre

WRENN ID
iron-tower-laurel
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Wirral
Constituency
Birkenhead MP: Alison McGovern (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
28 March 1974
Type
School
Address
Wirral Education Centre, Conway Street
OS grid reference
SJ 321 887
Coordinates
53.39154, -3.02118
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Wirral Education Centre, originally known as Conway Secondary School, is a school building dated 1903, designed by T. W. Cubbon. It is constructed of brick with gold terracotta dressings and features a Westmorland slate roof, showcasing a free classical style. The building is a long, three-storey structure with 18 bays, made up of a series of seven blocks that are loosely symmetrical around a central projecting entrance block.

The central block features a doorway flanked by banded pilasters and has a balcony above supported by Caryatids. Above this is a giant segmental pediment that crowns a Venetian window. The roof is mansard style, topped with a wooden turret that has a lead octagonal cap. On either side of the entrance, there are paired windows on each floor, along with terracotta panels that display raised lettering reading "Birkenhead School Board Higher Elementary School."

The symmetrical flanking blocks each consist of three bays and have segmentally arched windows, with banded brick and terracotta detailing on the first storey. The second storey is defined by pilasters that divide the windows. Each block is capped with wide angle pilasters that feature terracotta panels with monograms and terminate in turrets with statues set in niches. The overall design of the building includes a variety of fenestration that reflects the internal layout, all enhanced with a consistent range of decorative details, such as the large round-headed window on the first floor under a segmental pediment that interrupts the cornice on the left side.

The return elevation facing Burlington Street is similarly detailed and includes the original Girls Entrance, while the Boys Entrance is located towards the left of the main front.

Local climate

Wirral Education Centre sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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