Edgars are really pleased to have secured Planning and Listed Building Consent for the extension of a boarding house at Bloxham School, including restoration of a ruined former coachhouse, set within the Bloxham Conservation Area.
The successful project builds on a Schoolwide Masterplan, which was prepared by Edgars, in partnership with a team of consultants, on behalf of the school. The masterplan provides a comprehensive development framework to guide future projects, make best use of the school’s assets and identify opportunities for new development. It has also proved to be an invaluable tool in establishing a basis for long-term and positive engagement with the local planning authority.
The masterplan is one of several to have been delivered by Edgars in recent years, and was developed in conjunction with a bespoke team of external designers and technical consultants. The masterplanning process helps to fully understand a place and the spatial challenges that exist and consider the best ways to unlock existing assets and/or deliver new development, always set within the overarching context of our clients’ unique vision and objectives for their individual estates.
For Bloxham School, the masterplan was particularly valuable in balancing the need for the school to grow and maintain its competitiveness within the independent schools market within the context of a historic estate containing several listed buildings and set within the Conservation Area. The particular proposals for Stonehill Boarding House successfully secure the optimum viable use of the listed building and protect its historic setting while responding to the school’s need to increase its boarding provision and continue to support pupils and staff in delivering an exceptional teaching and learning environment for years to come.
This planning consent is one of several to have been secured on the basis of the school masterplan, demonstrating the value of frontloading the process and bringing forward proposals within the context of a holistic and future-proofed development framework; in this instance the local authority were able to consider the application in light of the school’s broader vision and the spatial challenges it faces in achieving it.
A thank you to the whole consultant team on this project, including Acanthus Clews Architects, HCUK, Cole Easdon, Tree Frontiers, Windrush Ecology (Image source: ACA https://www.acanthusclews.co.uk/)
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