The layout of Oriel High School promotes a partnership between the school and the local community, with generous social areas and attractive outside spaces. Designed by Fielden Clegg Bradley.
The school has been built on a greenfield site, abutting open countryside on one side and new suburban housing on the other. The project was funded through the Private Finance Inititiative (PFI), and was put out to tender as part of a package with two other secondary schools, Ifield and Thomas Bennett Community Colleges. Oriel High School was a new school when it opened in 2004, responding to the need for additional school places in the Maidenbower area of Crawley, an expanding town some 30 miles south of London.
Feilden Clegg Bradley were engaged by HBG PFI Projects in March 2002 to design this school as part of their bid - the other schools were designed by another practice. HBG were successful, and the school had to be completed very quickly to enable the first pupils to move in in September 2004. HBG have their own in-house designers, and the project was handed over to them after completion of the main scheme design, although Feilden Clegg continued to be involved through to completion in an advisory role.
When full the school will cater for 1450 pupils aged 11 to 18, and also provides for the County's Youth Service as well as community facilities. The sports facilities have a separate public entrance, and are run separately by the PFI contractor out of school hours.
The buildings are grouped around three courtyards, the central one being a large sheltered space with attractive materials, trees and seating, forming the heart of the school. The classrooms are mainly located in three wedge shaped blocks, with triangular roof-lit atria in the centre that can be used as breakout spaces.
