Thomas’s School, London – Projects

Thomas’s school, located on Battersea High Street in London, merges historic grade II listed facades with modern classrooms and learning facilities.  Recent works to the school have involved a two-storey extension of the eastern teaching block, enclosing the rooftop playground to create new classrooms on the southern block, a new multi-function dining hall to the west and alterations to various internal areas.  

Challenges included a demanding programme dictated by the school holidays and ensuring that the school remained in use throughout the works.  Elliott Wood worked closely with the design team and contractor to coordinate the design in order to achieve this. 

The vertical extensions comprised lightweight steelwork frames, enabling the existing structure and foundations to be justified for the additional load without the requirement for strengthening or remedial works. 

The new dining room facility and lower school classrooms utilised long-span steel beams to achieve the schools request for large column free spaces.  Flat steel bracing was also adopted to minimise the impact of structure within the internal spaces.