Richmond Primary School

Richmond Primary School

A primary school built between 1968 and 1970 to designs by T Locke, E D Smith and J N Pitts of the Leicestershire County Council Architect's Department.

The building is of steel frame construction with flat roofs comprising timber joists, wood wool slabs and roofing felt. External walls are faced in local brown bricks laid in stretcher bond, while internal walls are of grey sand-lime brick.

The plan is circular with a central library from which radiate eight wedge-shaped classrooms. Around the perimeter are four groups of WCs, storerooms and cloakrooms, with spaces between filled by external covered verandahs. On the north-west side, a short corridor lined with offices and storerooms leads to the hall and kitchen on the south side, which are rectangular in plan but follow the curve of the circular building. A detached boiler house situated on the west side of the kitchen is not included in the listing.

The single-storey exterior presents three concentric circles. The outer circle contains four brick sections housing WCs, storerooms and cloakrooms, lit along the top by ribbon windows with glazed doors on return walls. Four pairs of pyramidal rooflights top-light this outer circle. Between these brick sections are five outdoor workspaces sheltered by flat timber canopies supported by rolled steel joists, each with double-leaf glazed doors flanked by large unglazed windows. A clerestory of ribbon windows behind the perimeter lights the classrooms. The roof over the classrooms slopes downward towards the centre and is pierced by a continuous line of pyramidal roof lights. At the centre rises a two-storey polygonal section containing a room above the library, lit by a series of vertical three-light top-opening windows between which are pairs of fluted panels.

The link to the hall has a central wide glazed door on the principal south side, flanked by ribbon windows along the top, with two large windows on the right. A raised rectangular concrete fishpond with horizontal grooves sits in the angle between link and circular building, part of the original design.

The hall is lit by ribbon windows along the top on all four elevations. The long east side has two three-light full-height windows, with glazed doors on the north and south sides. A small brick extension has been added on the north side. The adjoining kitchen on the south side is lit by ribbon windows along the top of the east elevation; below these sits a large concrete panel of geometric shapes in various depths of relief. The short south end has a two-light window, and the rear west elevation features a row of six vertical two-light windows and a door.

Internally, the wedge-shaped classroom plan originally had eight spaces, but two internal walls have been removed to create one larger classroom, reducing the total to five. Each classroom is served by a cloakroom, WC and storeroom, and an outdoor covered workspace. Most retain an original child-sized ceramic wash-hand basin. Classrooms are accessed from the central octagonal library space and have interconnecting doors in party walls pierced by a row of windows along the top, some now boarded up. Some original flush doors with wood finish remain, though most have been replaced. A flight of stairs following the outer curve of the building rises from the library to the room above, located within a glazed partition with three wooden panels featuring horizontal grooves on the outer wall. The school hall has a herringbone parquet floor, and the party wall with the kitchen retains original roller shutters to the servery counter.

Doors and windows throughout have been replaced with uPVC.