Case study - Golden Lane Campus
Client: London Borough of Islington
Architect: Nicholas: Hare Architects LLP
Project Manager: Developing Projects
Main Contractor: Wilmott Dixon
Acoustics: Hoare Lea Acoustics
Golden Lane Campus is the new home for Richard Cloudesley School (Primary Department) and Prior Weston School & Children’s Centre. It is located right on the edge of the City of London’s Square Mile, just next to the Barbican Centre.
Relocating three institutions within a single site has helped to provide greatly improved educational and health services for the local community. But it also presented a considerable design challenge for the architects.
One priority was to maximise the available space. This was achieved with the creation of a private outdoor sensorial playground for disabled students on the ground floor at Richard Cloudesley School and a similar external play area in the South Courtyard for the Children’s Centre.
On the external walls, Rockwool’s Rockshield render system was specified, using a high-impact Rockpanel façade beneath the render in key areas, for extra protection. The advantage of Rockshield is not just that it gives an attractive and durable finish such as at Golden Lane Campus; it is that it can also provide excellent thermal insulation without sacrificing valuable internal space.
Another major concern in designing the campus was to minimise noise pollution, both from within the site and from nearby traffic, to ensure that the acoustic environment was conducive to learning. However, as the school is for children with special educational needs, so much of the space had to be open plan to allow disabled access.
Specifying Rockwool insulation throughout the campus will have helped to achieve this acoustic requirement. As well as regulating interior temperatures, it also has highly effective sound dampening properties and offers excellent fire protection too.
Golden Lane CampusRockwool Flexi was used internally to provide thermal performance and fire protection. Its patented flexi-edged slab also makes it easy for contractors to install and reduces wastage. Furthermore, it can also contribute to reducing sound transmission between rooms and it is this multi-faceted performance that attracts architects to specify Rockwool Flexi.
This combination of Rockwool technology has helped to create environments in all three institutions that are exceptionally quiet, safe and warm.
