Project
Birkett House (SEN) School
Wigston, Leicestershire
Project Information
Services:
Landscape Proposals, Landscape Management Plan
Clients:
Leicestershire County Council, Willmott Dixon Construction (Main Contractor)
Other consultants:
A+G Architects, BSP Consulting
Awards:
Infrastructure Project of the Year’ (Finalist) in 2018 from ProCon Leicestershire
Overview
Birkett House is a new build Special Educational Needs (SEN) school in Wigston, on the southern edge of Leicester. Building on our experience of other SEN schools, we were able to work closely with Sue Horn, the head teacher, and Gaynor Hall, the business manager, to ensure that the new SEN school exceeded the aspirations for this new build.
The site is steeply sloping at its southern end where it forms the edge of the Leicester conurbation, and we were able to use this to our advantage to create a variety of contrasting learning spaces to enrich the children’s experience. Rain gardens, a key component of the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) strategy, bring a ‘wild play’ experience in close to the school building and into the daily experience of the children. The path of water through the site to the large attenuation pond may be followed and enjoyed by children and staff alike.
We made a short film to promote this award-winning approach in 2018.
