Billington Structures provided the structural steelwork for this cutting edge new Academy in Brixton.
Evelyn Grace Academy, a cutting edge new Academy in Brixton, in the London Borough of Lambeth, has achieved recognition as an outstanding and imaginative new build, but it has also attracted attention due to receiving numerous prestigious awards including the RIBA Stirling Prize. As part of the multi-academy network trust Ark, the school was commissioned as an architectural statement.
The architect’s brief included the need for four schools to sit under a single academy umbrella but also mix independence and unity. The architects were encouraged to think outside the box and the result is a striking building that attracted a lot of attention.
The school makes full use of glass cladding, which forms part of the natural heating and ventilation incorporated within the design. Natural ventilation also forms part of the design which is linked to a building management system with vents that supply ample fresh air at all times throughout the building.
Designed by Zaha Hadid, the Evelyn Grace Academy is the first school ever to win the RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 for the best new European building built or designed in the United Kingdom. The build comprises a unique zig-zag design which is a mixture of steel and glass, which has been built in a very small urban space. With meticulous focus and attention to detail, the project was completed within 80 weeks, enabling the school to be ready for the start of the new school term.
Sport is one of the academy’s specialist subjects and in honour of this the design incorporated a 100 metre running track through the middle of the site, under a bridge between the two school blocks.
Designed as two schools, Evelyn and Grace, each comprising a Middle and Upper School, Billington Structures provided the structural steelwork for the building. Our team constructed a single storey beam and raking column design at second floor level and a separate sports hall. The steel was erected on the second floor of the concrete formed lower building with beams located into concrete columns and exposed raking columns extending to both ground and first floor.
