Radical retrofit of a three storey 1960s building to create a successful new primary school at the centre of a London neighbourhood.

Judith Kerr Primary is a new free school created in a former Kings College research science laboratory in Herne Hill, Southwark. AOC were appointed to retrofit the building to create an inclusive, accessible and open 2 form entry primary school. Working to a tight programme we enabled a rapid planning approval through use of permitted development rights and delivered the school for the start of a new academic year.

The existing facade has been carefully repaired and enhanced to minimise embodied carbon, control solar gain and provide a bold image for a progressive new school, parked within a residential neighbourhood in a south London neighbourhood.

The scheme provides generous classroom and specialist teaching spaces that support the school’s educational ethos of providing fully bilingual learning to all.

Thoughtful refurbishment and restructuring of the internal spaces created a best fit for the new school, minimising physical changes whilst optimising the range of teaching spaces to include an increased provision of small group and half class teaching spaces desired by the school. Admin spaces are stacked around the main circulation to support staff communication.

Each floor has a variety of teaching and support spaces, with a vertical progression upwards as you learn through the school years. Reception and year 1 are located on the ground floor, with reception having free flow access into the playground. Toilets have been located conveniently to the dining room and the playground to reduce the number of journeys upstairs. KS2 students on the second floor benefit from potential access onto a rooftop play terrace in the converted greenhouses of the former biotech laboratory.

Creative reuse has made best use of the constrained playground areas. A generous canopy and forecourt to the school entrance provides a pleasant place for parents to congregate at the beginning and end of the day. A new timber framed GRP canopy provides covered play for the nursery, with a ramped and stepped approach to a play deck underneath, providing free flow play between the early years classrooms and the playground.

In 2024, just 8 years after opening in the redeveloped building, Judith Kerr Primary School was ranked fifth in the Sunday Times' Top 500 primary schools in England.