HPA has a long association with the education sector, completing a diverse range of projects for schools, colleges and universities.
Our expertise helps education providers create new spaces and make the most of existing spaces, supporting our clients to raise educational attainment and aspiration. Our experienced team of education architects have worked on a wide range of education building design projects including new classrooms, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, performance spaces, and residential buildings.
Our heritage building expertise means we can design new-build education projects that sit sympathetically alongside historic buildings.
School architecture
We have completed architecture and school design projects for schools of all sizes, including specialist facilities like performing arts centres, dance studios, theatres, and sports halls. Our clients include private schools, academies, and local authority controlled schools.
We have experience of managing multi-million-pound school building contracts. For example, we provided architecture and design services for a new £2m teaching facility for Haslingden High School in Lancashire. The development included seven new classrooms, IT suite, medical facility, media suite, staff offices and a performance space with capacity for 300 people.
Colleges and further education
Our expert team has worked on college building design projects for the some of the UK’s most respected colleges, including Furness College in Cumbria and Runshaw College in Lancashire.
We can help colleges and further education providers meet the challenges posed by increasing student populations and the demand for both academic and vocational skills.
Our recent projects include designing a £3.4m Advance Manufacturing Technology College for Furness College that will provide students with the skills and training required by some of the region’s biggest employers.
University and higher education
Whether it’s the design of teaching and learning spaces, halls of residence, or other infrastructure, HPA has a track record in helping colleges and universities to meet their growth objectives and we’ve worked with several of our clients over many years.
This has given us experience of designing university buildings on large sites for multi-campus providers. Recently completed projects for the University of Cumbria include a new arts building at its Lancaster campus containing teaching rooms, recording studios, media suites and an art gallery, as well as a new sports hall at its Carlisle campus.
Performance arts and sport
A particular specialism of HPA Chartered Architects is designing inspiring spaces for performing arts and dedicated sports facilities.
Our successful projects include a performing arts building for The Hammond School, the prestigious dance, drama and music school in Chester. We also designed a 500 capacity theatre for Westholme School in Lancashire.
Our sports projects have included a £400,000 sports pavilion for Dallam School in Cumbria, as well as a multi-purpose sports hall and fitness suite at University of Cumbria.
