The proposed site has a combination of lands owned by the former St Michael’s Grammar School, The Sister’s Mercy and Trustees of St Peter’s Parish. The project will bring together three schools (St Paul’s Junior High School, St Mary’s High school and St Michael’s Grammar) onto one site, which sits on the edge of the local town, Lurgan, and ideally placed to serve both town and county areas. The proposal is for a major new educational facility with expectations for high quality facilities for a large number of children on one site.
Prior to the DQI Briefing workshop, key personnel completed several visits to different schools to establish ideas, this was helpful in evaluating existing school facilities and in formulating ideas during the workshop. There was lively discussion and significant engagement with the process. Key issues brought up during the session were:
- Outdoor spaces considered important, and should be enclosed not accessible by cars
- Ease of way finding considered essential, the layout of the building should be easily understood
- Adequate parking is considered to be essential
- Adequate external spaces are considered important for pupils’ physical activities
- Both internal and external spaces of existing buildings are too old and no longer fit for purpose
- The design must adopt sustainable principles, with the aim to achieve BREEAM Excellent target
Results from the workshop were recorded in a Briefing record to be used to evaluate design at later DQI stages.
Image: http://www.stronanslurgan.org.uk/