Manchester Grammar School is based in South Manchester. The new Sixth Form Centre takes its design cues from the school’s 1930s campus, with carefully detailed brickwork and regular glazing patterns, all under a deeply overhanging clay tile roof.

The new building provides sixth form specific facilities such as dining room, classrooms, a common room and support spaces. In addition, the brief also required the provision of new sports changing rooms and associated spaces. The building is ‘L-shaped’ and connects with and mirrors an existing building to form a new quadrangle space. An east-facing wing, contained under a pitched clay-tile roof, provides a dining room at ground floor with classrooms above. A south-facing wing includes changing rooms and sports facilities within a solid masonry plinth acting as a contrast to a visually light-weight common room over.

The deeply recessed building entrance is located at the junction of the two wings and is articulated by an external staircase giving access to a first-floor terrace providing views of the adjacent sports pitches. The stair also introduces a diagonal element into an otherwise strongly horizontal composition.

It is great to be work with a Manchester institution whose history goes back more than 500 years and to create a sustainable and high quality addition that will serve the future needs for the school and its students.