July 6, 2015
NVB Architects are pleased to be supporting Frome College in providing mock-interview experience. The event provides valuable experience for students, many of whom will be leaving school shortly and moving into the exciting world of work. This will be our 3rd year supporting the event which is run over two days and is organised by Frome Rotary Club.
As we approach the summer holidays, NVB are pleased to welcome work experience students from across the district. Students are given the opportunity to design a project with supervision from a qualified member of staff. They use all of the software available within the office to create exciting designs with realistic 3d renderings using the latest versions of Sketchup and Autodesk Revit. At the end of the placement, students give a short presentation on their design to a small group, giving valuable presentation experience which is useful in any profession. If you are interested in a placement with the practice please contact mailbox@nvbarchitects.co.uk.
June 18, 2015
After 2 months, work is progressing well on the new nursery at Abbot’s Hill School. The new facility is due to open in late autumn. The whole frame was manufactured “off site” and erected in 5 days.
June 17, 2015
Phase 1 of the landscape master plan is complete at The Cathedral School, Llandaff. It provides the school with spaces that are dedicated to the pupils. These include a new play area surfaced with resin bonded rubber mulch for a safe play surface whilst protecting the soil around the trees. The space formerly known as corral is now a social space at the heart of the school using a paving palette established during earlier phases of the building development plan. NVB master planned the school’s accommodation and have been developing this for the past seven years. The maintenance department haven’t been forgotten with a new, more than a shed, shed. This was built next to a new pedestrian connection into the school providing an alternative route to increase separation between cars and people.
The character of the school has been transformed with the start of a progressive plan to provide a functional and attractive site to complement the 21st Century buildings and school ethos.
The Cathedral School, Llandaff Landscape Master Plan
June 8, 2015
NVB are delighted to have been appointed as architects for the conversion of the Alderman Flatman Building into the new Frome Town Hall. The former county council offices will become a hub for a range of community activities and facilities as well as being the home of Frome Town Council.
NVB were appointed following a competitive tender and are currently consulting on the development of the brief. The building has fulfilled a range of civic functions over the years and we are excited by the challenge of converting it to suit a 21st Century community.
May 11, 2015
We have recently completed and handed over this project for a first floor ‘infill’ development between a sports hall and swimming pool at the school. The project improves existing facilities and will add new teaching classrooms, sports offices and a dance studio to existing facilities.
From a ‘standing start’ in January 2014, we developed a design, achieved planning approval, developed production information, negotiated a contract and were on site for the start of the summer holidays in July 2014. Refurbishment and adaptation of the original ground floor changing rooms and fitness suite was completed by the October half term and the ground floor was then in use by the school while construction of new first floor continued above. The first floor will initially be fitted out as classrooms (to allow redevelopment of another teaching department) and will then be converted to its final use as a new dance studio, squash courts and sports classrooms.
The project has also addressed some pre-existing issues with the building, rationalising an odd corridor layout and creating a much more welcoming main entrance. We also removed the previously blacked out clerestory windows to the sports hall; This simple ‘move’ means that for the first time spectators can view activities in the sports hall from the new first floor corridor/viewing gallery.
As well as delivering this relatively fast-track project on time, it was also achieved at well below the average cost per metre squared for this type of building.
May 7, 2015
NVB have worked closely with Epsom College to develop the design and tender documentation to create a new Lower School for the College, expanding the College’s age range. The new Lower School will be located within an existing residential building on the College’s Campus; this necessitates the complete removal of all of the internal walls and floors with a new steel frame inserted whilst retaining the existing elevations and roof. A new circulation stair tower will be erected to the rear and a contemporary entrance reception created. The main contract has been awarded to R Durtnell & Sons, the country’s oldest contractor who have been in operation since 1591.
Epsom College, North Lodge Elevations
Epsom College, North Lodge
April 23, 2015
Nicola Yeeles investigates the effect of classroom design on pupil attainment in this fascinating article for Academy Today. Click here to read the full article.
Click on the picture above to view this project in our portfolio.
April 15, 2015
St Mary’s School, Calne – All-Weather Sports Pitch and Hard Games Courts
“NVB directed and coordinated an excellent team that built a full-size FIH International Standard all weather pitch (with additional netball and tennis courts) for St Mary’s Calne. The project was delivered quickly, without setbacks and, thanks to the thoughtful landscaping, it now looks as if it had always been set into the school grounds.”
Richard Gordon, Bursar at St Mary’s School, Calne
Click on the picture above to view the project in our portfolio.
April 13, 2015
The sports hall infill project continues apace and is due for completion this summer. Existing changing rooms and the fitness suite have been completely refurbished and a new floor added above. This initially provides classrooms (whilst the Maths & Geography department is being redeveloped) but will ultimately provide a large dance studio, PE classroom, a permanent office for the school’s sailing club and new squash courts. The project has also allowed us to create a spectator area for the existing sports hall for the first time since its construction in the late 1970s.
Work continues at Dauntsey’s School Sports Hall
Sports Hall Infill Interior
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