Jenny Cordell Senior Planning Officer Epping Forest District Council Civic Offices High Street Epping CM16 4BZ

Our reference 3673.08 Your reference EPF/0539/15 Date 18/03/2015

Dear Jenny,

Further to our call the other week, please find enclosed additional information in support of application EPF/0539/15 School Sixth Form Centre, to address the initial queries you had.

Need for the Sixth Form Centre Included with this letter is a letter from the Headmaster of Chigwell School providing more information on the need for the scheme. The Sixth Form at Chigwell School is heavily oversubscribed and the School prides itself in providing top class Sixth Form education. Although the School is not looking to increase the number of Sixth Form places, it does need to ensure it stays at the forefront and can compete with other schools in the area that offer bespoke facilities for their Sixth Form students. Further information is included at Appendix 1.

Design This text should be read in conjunction with the Design and Access Statement in Section 4 of the submitted Planning Statement.

Evolution of the design There have been a series of plan forms for the new Sixth Form Centre and most have been of a rectilinear shape located along the boundary to Roding Lane. Through discussions with the School and yourself, the design was developed where the rectangular plan was split apart longitudinally and the curved glass bay windows inserted to respond to the chestnut tree and the views to the playing fields. This plan form helps to break down the mass of the building and keep it in scale with the surrounding existing buildings.

Response to the School’s historic and architectural context The main buildings of Chigwell School surround the junior cricket pitch and although of different architectural periods have very consistent materials. The new Sixth Form Centre will be part of this sweep of buildings. Appendix 2 to this letter provides photos of the existing buildings on site and draws out some of the key features reflected in the design of the Sixth Form Centre.

LUC LUC BRISTOL LUC GLASGOW LUC EDINBURGH www.landuse.co.uk Land Use Consultants Ltd Registered in 43 Chalton Street 12th Floor Colston Tower 37 Otago Street 28 Stafford Street Registered number: 2549296 London Colston Street Bristol Glasgow Edinburgh Registered Office: NW1 1JD BS1 4XE G12 8JJ EH3 7BD 43 Chalton Street T +44 (0)20 7383 5784 T +44 (0)117 929 1997 T +44 (0)141 334 9595 T +44 (0)131 202 1616 London NW1 1JD FS 566056 EMS 566057 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] LUC uses 100% recycled paper

New Hall (photo 1) is one of the larger buildings around the cricket pitch with typical red brick walls (photo 4) and a steep pitched roof (photo 5) and large windows. The pitch of the Sixth Form Centre roof has been designed to match the roof of New Hall to ensure balance in the panorama of buildings as viewed from the cricket pitch, with New Hall framing this view on the left and the Sixth Form Centre framing it on the right (see figure 1 below).

Figure 1 Panorama of School buildings as viewed from the cricket pitch

The Dining Hall (photo 2) has a series of gabled windows facing the cricket pitch, which have been reflected in the new Sixth Form Centre which also has gabled windows facing Roding Lane and the cricket pitch (see photo 7).

The Chapel (photo 3) is another prominent building around the cricket pitch and adjacent to the new Sixth Form Centre. The plain clay tiles on the roof of the Chapel (photo 6) will be matched on the Sixth Form Centre to provide uniformity in the materials palette on site.

Due to the varied architectural styles present at the School, it is also important to ensure the Sixth Form Centre has its own contemporary expression and identity. The inclusion of the curved glazed screens facing the playing fields and the horse chestnut tree give it a very contemporary feel whilst also breaking up the mass of the building to ensure it remains in keeping with the existing buildings.

In summary, the designs for the Sixth Form Centre pick up the architectural elements from the surrounding existing School buildings, matching the gables of the Dining Hall and the brick work, roof tiles and roof pitches present across the School, but with more contemporary large glazed screens to give the building its own identity. The building also aims to keep in scale with the other buildings, particularly the Chapel, with similar roof heights.

Response to the setting of the Conservation Area The Chigwell Village Conservation Area (CA) is illustrated in Figure 2. The majority of the CA is made up of the Chigwell School site, with other buildings mainly fronting onto High Road, and as such the character of the CA is largely driven by the character of the School. It therefore follows that by reflecting the architectural vocabulary of the School’s core buildings in the design of the Sixth Form Centre, to ensure it is in keeping with the character of the School, the new building will also make a positive contribution to the character of the CA. It is considered that the contribution of the Sixth Form Centre to the character of the CA would be much greater than the existing Penn’s House.

2 Figure 2 Chigwell Village Conservation Area

Roof vents The building will have a mechanical ventilation scheme for climate control and will need intake and extract vents on the roof above the plant room. They will be louvered metal vents set back on the central flat roof, referencing the vernacular of existing roof vents and chimney’s elsewhere on the site - these will be powder coated mid grey in colour. The roof vents are shown on the application drawings submitted on Monday 16th March. The CGIs included in the planning statement have been amended to reflect these roof vents and are included at Appendix 3.

There have also been a couple of other developments of relevance to the application which are detailed below.

Chigwell Residents Association

The School had a positive meeting with the Chigwell Residents Association (RA) on 16th March. There were about 10 people in attendance including two parish councillors. The scheme was well received and the attendees accepted the need for the scheme and the selection of Penn’s House as the most suitable location within the school site. The Headmaster Michael Punt also discussed the preferred construction site access along Roding Lane and reassured the RA that the build would be well managed and construction impacts kept to a minimum.

Consultation with Essex County Council (ECC) We have received preliminary comments from ECC’s highways team with regards to potential construction access along Roding Lane. Their senior development management engineer (Susan Anker)

3 has stated that from initial desktop analysis of the site, she can’t see any issues with having an access point on Roding Lane. She also confirmed that there are no official parking bays on Roding Lane and hence no parking would need to be suspended. She noted that they would be consulted again when the application is submitted.

I trust the information submitted addresses your queries and illustrates how the new Sixth Form Centre has not only been sensitively designed with the existing architectural style in mind, but is also being developed to provide much needed, bespoke and modern Sixth Form facilities.

If you have any further comments or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Ms Jennifer Rea Principal Environmental Planner LUC [email protected]

4 Appendix 1 – Letter from Michael Punt, Headmaster

Chigwell, Essex, IG7 6QF General Tel: 020 8501 5700 Direct Tel: 020 8501 5708 From the Headmaster Fax: 020 8500 6232 M.E. Punt, M.A., M.Sc. E-mail: [email protected] www.chigwell-school.org

Ms J. Cordell Planning Officer Epping Forest District Council Civic Offices High Street Epping Essex CM16 4BZ March 2015

Dear Ms Cordell

For a number of years, Chigwell School has been seeking to provide a specialist Sixth Form Centre. The School plays an important role in educating children from Chigwell and the surrounding area, the vast majority live five miles away or less, and it strives to stay at the forefront of educational investment and innovation. A number of neighbouring schools have developed bespoke Sixth Form facilities in recent years, including Brentwood, Forest, Bancroft’s and Felsted. It is important to the future success of the School, that Chigwell offers similar facilities and provides the best resources to students.

Demand for Sixth Form places at Chigwell remains very high, with places available being heavily over- subscribed in recent years. Over the last five years, on average there have been three applicants for every Sixth Form place and this was closer to four applicants this year. The aim is to increase the quality of facilities available to these Sixth Form students rather than to expand the School.

Currently, students in the four day Houses share common rooms from the age of 13 upwards, but the School is seeking to provide a space that meets the particular needs of students in the last two years of their time at school. In addition, subjects that are only delivered to Sixth Form students such as Economics and Psychology will be based in the new centre. More specifically, the Sixth Form study space will be where students study when they have free periods before and after school. Currently, students use the school library to study and whilst Sixth Formers may still do so, we want to take the opportunity to develop the library in the future so that it is more attractive to students of all ages, not just Sixth Formers. The centre will have seminar spaces which will be used for smaller group discussions, talks from guest speakers, and collaborative learning in general. Learning support for Sixth Form students will also take place in the centre.

The School will also base Learning + sessions in the centre including the provision of the Extended Project Qualifications (EPQ and HPQ). These projects entail students carrying out an independent study alongside their A level or GCSE subjects and, whilst public exams are sometimes criticised for being too prescriptive, these projects are highly regarded because they encourage students to work independently. University and careers advice will be provided from within the centre and Sixth Form staff will have their offices based there.

The Planning Statement submitted with the planning application for the Sixth Form Centre explains how the School selected the Penn’s House site for the new centre. A review of all existing accommodation was undertaken to establish whether any buildings would be suitable for conversion to provide the required

Chigwell School is an Incorporated Charity, No. 1115098

facilities. No such space exists given the current requirements of curriculum and pastoral provision for all year groups within the School. Hence, potential sites involving the redevelopment of existing buildings, which itself would require the re-provision of the facilities lost, and green field sites were reviewed. A key consideration in this review was to keep the Sixth Form Centre as close as possible to the core of the School, such that Sixth Form students are still part of the wider School community while having their own identity. Alongside this, the School was mindful of the planning constraints imposed by the Green Belt which covers most of the open land within the estate.

The Penn’s House site was selected as the preferred location because it meets all the requirements of the School while minimising the impact on the Green Belt.

It is important that the Sixth Form Centre is sympathetic to the surroundings on this prime site both in the Chigwell Conservation Area and next to the oldest school buildings. The School and the Architects are very aware of the need to get the building right and feel that the design that has been submitted does just that. Equally, we want the new building to be sufficiently special that younger pupils aspire to be part of it.

The Sixth Form Centre will also form a memorial to Old Chigwellian, Risham Sarao, who was sadly killed in a road accident in Peru in 2009, a few days before her twenty first birthday. She was studying there as part of her university course. Risham was beginning life beyond Chigwell and a key function of the Sixth Form Centre is to provide the very best Sixth Form specific facilities to help prepare future Chigwell Sixth Form students for life at university, their careers and the rapidly changing world in which we hope they will make a really positive contribution.

I hope you will be able to support our application.

With best wishes

Yours sincerely

Michael Punt

Chigwell School is an Incorporated Charity, No. 1115098

Appendix 2 - Existing buildings at Chigwell

School and features reflected in the design of the Sixth Form Centre

5. Steep pitched roof 4. Existing brick work

1. New Hall

The proposed Sixth Form Centre

2. The Dining Hall with gabled windows

6. Clay tiled roof 7. Gabled windows

3. The Chapel

View from Roding Lane

Views from cricket pitch

Appendix 3 – Updated CGIs

View from Roding Lane