Staffordshire University Nursery & Forest School

Project:

Staffordshire University Nursery & Forest School

Client:

Staffordshire University

Contractor:

Henry Brothers Construction

Architect:

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

Value:

£4.4m

Location:

Leek Road Site, Stoke-on-Trent

GIFA:

1,000m2

Based on the building fabric targets of Passivhaus standards and utilising the latest green technologies the net-zero purpose built facility provides a full day care nursery with a 24-place classroom and observational suite with leading digital technology. See full details...

PROJECT SUMMARY

Located close to the University’s nature reserve, this brand new £4.4m carbon neutral facility, brings the forest setting to the University’s city campus. It is not only connected with its landscaped and idyllic surroundings, but also provides inspirational and flexible learning spaces that offer developing children digital experiences too.

More than doubling the capacity of the University’s previous nursery premises, the new provision provides 100 full day-care places for children aged from 0 to five. It also has the capacity to provide childcare and education for children from five to 12 years outside of term time.

The new nursery provision also incorporates a forest school facility that develops links with local schools and provides community participation opportunities. Single storey with Glulam timber frame, sustainable panelised superstructure solution with timber cladding and an external timber canopy covered walkway for social interaction.

The building has a high-performance Innovaré Offsite envelope which is highly energy efficient, with the wider build incorporating measures such as Air Source Heat Pumps, Passive Cooling and roof mounted solar PV.

KEY FEATURES IN THE NURSERY AND FOREST SCHOOL:

• Four inspirational learning spaces with areas for food preparation and wet play as well as flexible floor space.

• An authentic woodland experience for schools, especially those based in the city.

• Opportunities to experience countless outdoor learning opportunities such as identifying nature, play-based learning, den building and forest art.

• Gain digital experiences to help develop prerequisite skills to support future learning within a fast-paced digital world.

• Play and learn in large, landscaped play areas.

• Observational suite with leading digital technology to facilitate applied learning for trainee teachers, social workers, and University students.

In its first year, Woodlands Day Nursery and Forest School was recognised with two awards, Construction Project of the Year in the CEF Awards 2022, and the Sustainability award at West Midlands Insider Property Awards 2022