Royal Liberty School
Royal Liberty School, Romford
Royal Liberty School is a secondary school for boys near Romford in east London. We acted as the structural engineers (working with Willmott Dixon and architects Vincent + Gorbing) to refurbish the Grade II* listed main school building and design a new steel framed sports hall as part of a £20.4m scheme,
The centrepiece of the site is Hare Hall, a Palladian Georgian Manor house built in 1769 to the designs of James Paine. It was later extended, most notably during the 1920s when it was converted into a school. Three wings were added to form a quadrangle, with a cloister and garden. The manor house consists of solid masonry walls with timber floors and roof. The 1920s wings are also built with solid masonry walls but have a concrete first floor on beams and iron roof trusses.
The proposals for the main school building involved repairs and alterations to the existing structure and upgrading services, whilst a new standalone sports hall, two storeys high, provides a multi-purpose space for students to enjoy physical education, with a lightweight flat roof supporting an extensive PV array.
An additional two-storey amenities block contains toilets and changing areas are positioned adjacent to the Sports Hall. At first floor level, a new food technology room and expanded canteen enables the school to deliver an enhanced student experience, whilst the teaching spaces at first floor benefit from larger window openings to maximise daylighting and benefit view out to the playing fields and the adjacent Hare Hall.
To minimise disruption to the students’ studies and enable the school to continue operating throughout the works, we also advised on the construction of a temporary four-storey teaching block, consisting of 86 prefabricated modules.
Work began in July 2019 and was completed by the end of 2021, coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of the school’s opening.Upon completion, Headteacher April Saunders said: “We are delighted to be back in our fully refurbished Grade II-listed building. Our main school building has undergone a complete refurbishment whilst retaining the character and features of our historic building. The pictures show just a few of our fantastic facilities, including the new canteen, catering room, sports hall and the ICT suites. This is a really exciting time for The Royal Liberty School as we celebrate our centenary as well as providing state of the art facilities for our boys to learn in, meaning that the school will be fit for another 100 years of educating young men.”
Client: Royal Liberty School