Bridge School, Ipswich
Bridge School is a new stand-alone building which has been constructed on the existing school’s grounds at Belstead, Ipswich.
This project involved the construction of a new state-of-the-art primary school building on the existing occupied secondary campus. The Bridge School was previously housed on two sites, six miles apart, and caters for children aged three to sixteen with special educational needs. The new accommodation allows the primary-aged children to join the existing secondary school students.
As well as the excellent facilities inside the building, every classroom has access to their own dedicated outdoor area, an outdoor science classroom, a sensory garden and play facilities.
The stand-alone, single-storey, cross laminated timber frame building provides 10 class spaces, office and specialist accommodation including an occupational therapy and physio gym, a library, soft play room, new school hall and a wide ranging landscaping scheme.
The building boasts several sustainable features such as a dedicated 550kW biomass boiler fuelled by wood pellets in a fully containerised and custom built plant room with an impressive 18m green powder coated flue. The biomass system is being used to provide both heating and domestic hot water requirements for the school. There is also a 30Kwp solar photovoltaic array, maximised natural lighting, low energy lighting and controls.
