RGS Guildford
Location Guildford
Completed 2018
Building High
We worked with the Royal Grammar School in Guildford to develop a 15-20 year Building Development Plan, leading in the future to the infill of the school’s two central courtyards as atrium spaces. This involved a particularly tricky IID ‘Rubik’s Cube’ masterplanning exercise and a phased sequence of development cheek-by-jowl with the operational school. During IID’s involvement the consolidation of the school’s constrained city-centre north site was the focus, addressed by buying nearby offices to allow demolition and construction of the new John Brown Building linked to the school by an octagonal bridge, acting as permanent decant space for future phases. As no further site area was available, the next step was to build a new floor above the school’s ‘Spine’, between the two courtyards with enough structure to factor in the future atriums either side.
The phases undertaken so far give the school the freedom and flexibility to consider various options into the future as their needs continue to evolve.