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Animal Management Centre

Reaseheath College, Nantwich, Cheshire

Sector: Education & Animal Care

Entrance Foyer to Animal Management with a view to the Centre Courtyard & Reception


Centre Courtyard: Designed as an Extension to Teaching Space

Background
Planning Approval was granted in 2009 for a new building as part of Phase 2 redevelopment of the Campus, but a smaller scheme. The College published their development plans at their next Student and College open days and had a massive intake of new pupils. They then took the decision to increase the size of the new facilities and a new Planning Approval was achieved in Autumn 2009 and proposals were taken to stage F1 for a March 2010 start. LSC funding issues meant that proposals were temporarily shelved and eventually constructed using a Bank Loan and alternative funding.

Ethos
The facilities were designed to wrap around four sides of a courtyard. The external space woudl provide external teaching space. Two external animal enclosures were incorporated into the short end elevations.

Design Solution
The building was largely clad in brick constructed in cavity construction, with a comosite zip clad roof. Wrapping around four sides of an internal courtyard. A Courner entrance block was cut into the external courner facing the entrance drive, clad in cedar cladding and single storey . A rendered feature projected entrance feature was introduced to emphasise the entrance. Feature projecting windows were introduced along two elevations opening onto staff keepers offices on one side of the building and tutorial rooms on the other side of the room.

The two remaining facades were largely brick clad facades with higher level clerestorey windows. The remiander of the internal space facing onto external walls being taken up wtth animal enclosures, vivariums and cases.

An internal corrirod running arund the centre of the building was lit with alternate lights and sn tunnels to provide circualtion lighting without too much daylight, so that the colours of fish, snakes, insects could be seen through glass viewing windows, and those using circualtion space would not disturb teaching activities taking place beyond.

Facilities
The new building, designed to BREAM Excellent Standards, contains a Tropical Zone set at 24oC, Invertebrate Rooms, Fish Rooms and a Baby Shark breeding tank, Amphibians Zone with Cold and Warm rooms and a Small Animal barn. A central courtyard acts as an extension to teaching space.

Feature animal cages are set in the courtyard and feature viewing windows into the teaching rooms that allow Visitors to look at teaching activities taking place without disturbing them. There are four Lecture Rooms and a Student Hub which have been designed to interlink to allow space to be split into smaller teaching rooms, or larger teaching spaces to suit varied class sizes.

The Centre now has a growing reputation for Conservation of Species and has obtained a Zoo Licence. It is now one of the main attractions at the College's annual open day.

This was also our first ever design of 'a Shark Tank' and 'Meerkats Cage'.

External Works
The internal courtyard was paved, and included a number of raised planters, to allow external teaching to take place.

Hooks were designedd into the steel frame facing the courtyard and a central totem pole to allow the colledge to erect netting to the courtyard in teh future to allow birds to fly .

External paved areas provided access to the school zoo and other teaching blocks.

Social Value
The new Animal Management building replaced teraching in dilapidated sheds, and provided the colledge with state of the art enlosures offices and teasching spaces that allowed the colledge to promote and expand its conservation of species teaching.


The viewing window to the left opens onto a large baby shark/fish tank and the viewing window on the right into an Insect teaching space. The remainder of the space acts as an extension to Tutorial rooms

Status:Completed Sept 2010
Value: £2.4m
Type: New Build
Client: Reaseheath College
Architect: at Hulme Upright
Structure: ABA
Services: BSM
Project Manager: MACE
QS: Sense Cost Consultancy