Acland Burghley School

Acland Burghley School

A secondary school designed by Howell Killick Partridge and Amis (with Stanley Amis as lead partner), built between 1963 and 1967, with additions from the late 20th century and 2007.

The building employs a combination of pre-cast and in-situ concrete elements, clad with pre-cast panels finished with exposed aggregate of Walley flints. Interior surfaces feature painted shuttered concrete and rendered blockwork.

The plan is organized around a central north-south aligned administrative core containing staff rooms at ground floor level and teaching rooms above, accessed via corridors on the ground and first floors. A drawbridge-like entrance ramp rises from the main gate on Burghley Road to the principal entrance at the south elevation of the administration core. Specialist departments are arranged above the central core, with top-lit arts studios radiating outward at second floor level. Three teaching towers extend eastward from the core, their classrooms arranged around staircases with paired year rooms for assemblies and dining at ground floor. Above these are three storeys of classrooms. A linear west range links the administration core at its north end and adjoins a later sports hall to the north-west and an arts block (2007, not assessed for listing) to the south. A separate hexagonal assembly hall, built on the site of a 19th-century school building to the south-west of the core, emphasizes the school's focus on music and drama; an external covered walkway of exposed concrete connects it to the administration core. To the north, a railway cutting was decked over with pre-cast concrete beams to create a playground, car park, and sports hall.

Three five-storey teaching towers are attached to the three-storey administration core, with the west range rising to three storeys. These elements are unified by consistent architectural treatment: bands of aluminium fenestration (replacements for original boxed-out double-sliding acoustic windows), canted flint aggregate panels over octagonal columns, and infill panels of grey brick and fair-faced in-situ concrete. The teaching towers are recessed above first floor level. The second and first floors of the south elevation of the west range project over the ground floor, supported on horizontal concrete beams. At the west elevation of the administration core, the ground floor is built out with exposed concrete columns between aggregate panels. A first floor glazed link joins the west range to a 2007 two-storey steel-framed extension to the south (not assessed for listing). The buildings have flat roofs with mostly renewed skylights. Windows are early 21st-century replacements, though some original external doors remain apart from the main entrance doors. A new lift tower has been constructed to the east of the main entrance, and a glazed entrance added to the ground floor of the southernmost teaching tower; both are excluded from listing except for the curving canopy to the main entrance, which is included.

The single-storey hexagonal assembly hall is double-ended to allow multi-functional use. A central timber-clad lantern with a lower horizontal band of glazing rises from the concrete external wall; double-door entrances face east and south. The angled external walkway connecting the hall to the administration core is constructed of exposed shuttered concrete with large side openings.

Interior partitions are of fair-faced concrete panels, subtly chamfered in places. Internal finishes comprise shuttered concrete and rendered blockwork. Interior fixtures and fittings in teaching spaces are generally renewed, but hollow-steel staircase handrails remain, along with a number of original doors and some timber cladding. The assembly hall has a timber-clad ceiling punctuated with side and top lights, rising from the lower concrete pitch of the roof and supported on columns. It is equipped with stages at both ends, a fly tower, and attached drama studios. Acoustic walling between the hall space and circulation corridor has been punctuated with openings; although many lights have been replaced, some original circular lighting remains. In the main reception space stands a timber wall memorial from Acland School, featuring a central coat of arms flanked by inscribed names of members of the school community killed in the First World War.

Subsidiary features include a small amphitheatre for outdoor performances with a terraced surface. Dressed and carved stonework from the former Board Schools has been incorporated into the structure.

A Minor Amendment was made to this listing entry on 31 May 2016.