Thomas Willingale School – Infill Extension

Key Facts:

A popular school on the edge of Epping Forest, The Thomas Willingale School was faced with the common challenge of requiring additional space. Particular needs for specialist learning, resource and break-out areas; meant The Thomas Willingale School turned to Munday + Cramer to develop a novel solution to utilise a redundant element of the school site through an infill extension.

The extension incorporated a single storey construction making the most of a narrow courtyard that was previously unused. In its place a new resource area/meeting room, two intervention rooms (including a sensory room) as well as a dedicated medical room.

The extension was constructed with a simple cavity brick wall and flat roof; featuring numerous skylights to enable high levels of natural light to the new accommodation. In total, an additional 70m² of floor space was provided for a project of around £130,000, offering great value for money. More importantly, the scheme has enabled group work to become a regular feature throughout the whole school day, instead of scheduled for specific times, as well as the additional resources such as the medical room being added.

The project was started at Easter by Forum Contracts, and completed in mid-June. Despite the works being undertaken predominantly during term-time, the scheme was completed with minimal disruption and on-time.

“The infill project looks fabulous. The group rooms will provide amazing spaces for our children to learn and the fully equipped medical room will provide the much needed care our children deserve when hurt or unwell.”

Thomas Willingale School & Nursery