April 2023
Planning Approved for New Library
We are happy that the proposed new library and 6th form study space for St. Thomas the Apostle
School in Nunhead has received planning permission. The new modular space starts on site in June
and should be ready for occupation in In September this year providing much needed study space
for the 6th formers at the school.
May 2022
RIBA East Award 2022 winners – Best Building of the Year
The postgraduate housing on Storey’s Way for Churchill College, Cambridge was among 17 projects in the Eastern Region to win an RIBA regional award and we are delighted that it has also been chosen as RIBA East Building of the Year.
May 2022
RIBA East Award 2022 winners
We are very happy to announce that two of our recent projects have received a 2022 RIBA East Award.
Our graduate housing for Churchill College, Cambridge where the judges noted that ‘The resulting scheme showcases the practice’s experience with graduate housing with great virtuosity’; and our project for Brentwood Preparatory School where the judges noted that ‘The materials palette references other buildings around the site and each building is beautifully crafted with bold and playful colours and motifs’
July 2020
Southwark Architect Design Services Framework
We are honoured to be included on this new framework in the categories of Education / Social Care / Community (£5-£20M) and New Homes (£0-£5M). Southwark is home to our offices, a number of our prominent projects, our London Met student work as well as our local work experience students.
We really look forward to this opportunity to continue to engage with Southwark communities and to help them shape sustainable and inclusive spaces for living, learning and socialising.
February 2019
Fundraising drive launched for new Cottrell and Vermeulen-designed community hub in Essex
A fundraising initiative has been launched to turn our new design for Saint Stephen’s Church in Southend-on-Sea into reality, with the church targeting £50,000 to achieve planning permission to build. Colin Baldwin, the Priest-in-charge at St Stephen’s, will stage a 1,000 miles cycle in 10 days this July as part of the drive, visiting the majority of cathedrals in the south and midlands of England.
The new centre will replace the church’s existing dilapidated facilities, and uses modular design to create a building that is flexible and can be easily expanded further in the future as the community’s needs evolve and funding becomes available.
To help the project and donate to Rev. Baldwin’s charity cycle, simply text COLB58 £(amount) to 70070, or alternatively visit the following JustGiving page:
January 2019
Completion of Krishna Avanti Primary School, Croydon
Our school project in Croydon for the Avanti School Trust and Kier Construction, Krishna Avanti Primary School, has now completed.
The new build two-form entry primary school is a Hindu faith free school open to all, regardless of faith, and is the third development we have designed for the trust.
Having received planning in March 2017 and commenced on site later that year in September, the building features a linear teaching block, double height hall space and a roof top play deck.
January 2019
New York’s Architectural Record features Cottrell & Vermeulen
American publication Architectural Record has featured Streatham and Clapham High School in a special article focussing upon exemplary vertical school expansions from around the globe.
Our extension and refurbishment – staged over two phases for the Girls’ Day School Trust – was the only UK design to be selected for the article, of which also included outstanding projects from Berlin and New York.
The article has been published in the title’s January 2019 issue and you can also read it online by clicking the link below:
https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13826-continuing-education-vertical-school-expansions
November 2018
Civic Trust Awards 2019 shortlists Bellenden Primary School
We are delighted to share that Bellenden Primary School has been shortlisted by the Civic Trust Awards 2019 for the Selwyn Goldsmith Awards for Universal Design.
The Civic Trust Awards recognise buildings and schemes in which are architecturally outstanding and make positive differences to their local community.
All winning schemes will be presented with their award or commendation at the 60th Annual Civic Trust Awards Ceremony, held at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester on Friday 1st March 2019.
October 2018
Bellenden Primary School shortlisted for AJ Architecture Awards
We are delighted to be shortlisted for School Project of the Year for Bellenden Primary School in the AJ Architecture Awards.
The awards celebrate the very best projects built in the UK and all winners will be announced at the Roundhouse in London on 4th December.
September 2018
AJ Retrofit Awards 2018 – School Project of the Year
We are thrilled to have won School Project of the Year for our project Streatham and Clapham High School at the AJ Retrofit Awards 2018.
The judging panel commented on their decision: “The jury liked the energy and ambition of the scheme and how it succeeded in reinvigorating the school campus, re-orientating it to the street and thereby transforming its relationship with the surrounding locality.”
August 2018
Cottrell and Vermeulen project shortlisted for Wood Awards
We are delighted to share that Streatham and Clapham High School has been shortlisted for this year’s Wood Awards. Selected within the Education and Public Sector category, the awards recognise, encourage and promote outstanding design, craftsmanship and installation using wood.
The shortlist will be showcased at the London Design Fair in the Old Truman Brewery on 20th-23rd September, with the winners revealed at the annual Wood Awards ceremony at Carpenters’ Hall on 20th November.
August 2018
Open House London 2018
We are pleased to have 3 projects included in Open House London this year.
If you would like to take a look inside some of the projects we have completed over the course of 2018 then please come and visit us on Saturday 22nd September, where we will be at Streatham and Clapham High School in Lambeth and at 25 Stories Mews in Southwark. On Sunday 23rd September we will be at Bellenden Primary School in Peckham.
For all details of opening times and addresses, please visit the Open House 2018 website for more information – link below. We look forward to seeing you!
July 2018
Streatham and Clapham High School shortlisted for upcoming awards
Both the AJ Retrofit and Structural Timber Awards have shortlisted Streatham and Clapham High School within their School Project and Education Project of the Year categories for 2018, respectively.
Staged by The Architects’ Journal, the AJ Retrofit Awards 2018 will be hosted at The Brewery in Barbican on the 12th September, with the Structural Timber Awards due to be held the following month in the Midlands.
July 2018
New London Awards 2018 Commendation
We are delighted to share that our recently completed project Streatham and Clapham High School has been awarded a Commendation at the New London Awards (NLA) 2018 for the Education category.
Celebrating excellence in new architecture within the capital, the NLA Awards were presented this month during a ceremony at the Guildhall, attended by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
May 2018
Exciting aerial view of a recent project in Kenya
We’re excited by Nick Trent’s photograph of the almost completed “off-grid” house in Kenya. The indigenous landscaping is now flourishing in the rainy season.
May 2018
St Peters
Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture have been appointed to redesign the entrance sequence to a wonderful modernist church in Westcliff-on Sea. The scheme looks to connect the existing church and community hall with a new build café space for use by the community. The entrance to the church will be reworked to provide a clearer connection to the street, with new gardens and a lobby.
May 2018
Completion of Streatham & Clapham High School & Bellenden Primary School
Two of our school projects : Streatham & Clapham High School & Bellenden Primary School have now completed. The schools have moved into the buildings and are enjoying the new spaces.
May 2018
Streatham and Clapham High School
We are delighted that Streatham & Clapham High School has won a regional award at the 2018 RIBA Awards.
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture’s design provides a number of innovative learning spaces, a new reception and dining hall that is both transformative yet complementary to the original 1930s building.
April 2018
2018 Building Design Awards – Education Architect of the Year
We are thrilled to have won the 2018 Building Design Awards – Education Architect of the Year for the third time! A big congratulations to one of our clients ‘London Borough of Southwark’ who also won client of the year.
January 2018
Krishna Avanti – Update
Construction is well underway at the new Krishna Avanti Primary School in Croydon.
The steel frame has been erected and concrete floors and staircases are in place. The contractors are pressing on with the construction of the roof and are beginning the brickwork façade.
Krishna Primary School is due to be completed September 2018
January 2018
Churchill College – Update
Construction of new graduate housing has started at Churchill College, Cambridge University. The new buildings will house 30 new student rooms and five self-contained flats.
The new housing will be adjacent to Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture’s previous postgraduate housing scheme, which was completed in 2000. The development will extend the architectural and landscape approach of the original scheme to create a new consolidated postgraduate campus within the college. The project will be led by Simon and Priscilla who are both alumni of the College.
Watch their interview about designing the new buildings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r8bR1q9CdA
This project is due to be completed in March 2019.
December 2017
Grove Lane – Update
Construction of a new two storey home within the Camberwell Grove Conservation Area is progressing well.
Construction is progressing well on site at Grove Lane. The project replaces an existing garage to provide a compact and characterful new house that continues the existing development of the lane into a mews.
Alongside the new building, work has also begun to refurbish and remodel the main existing Georgian house. The excavation and remodelling of the front garden is well underway and the refurbishment of the front façade will follow after. The remodelling to the front garden will allow better access and daylight to the basement level through a series of brick terraces and steps that lead down from the street to the basement level.
November 2017
Planning submitted for new secondary school in Bermondsey
Planning has been submitted for a new 600-place secondary school that will form the new home for the existing Compass School Southwark.
The proposed new school forms a core component of the KPF Masterplan for the Biscuit Factory and Bermondsey Campus site for Grosvenor Estates. Located on the north edge of the development, adjacent to the existing school, the new school will be placed at the heart of existing community and at the gateway to the new neighbourhood. It will be an integral part of the community and will provide an exemplary urban school.
November 2017
New website for the Stephen Lawrence Prize
Cottrell & Vermeulen are pleased to be featured in the winners listings on the brand new Steven Lawrence Prize website.
We won the award in 2002 for The Cardboard Building for Westborough Primary School.
See the full listing and new website here:
stephenlawrenceprize.com/practice/cottrell-vermeulen-architects/
September 2017
Open House London
We have 3 projects included in Open House London this year as part of their 25th Anniversary.
If you would like to have a look inside some of our recently completed education projects then please come and visit us on Saturday 16th September 2017 where we will be on hand at Sacred Heart School in Camberwell, Lyndhurst Primary School also in Camberwell and Streatham and Clapham High School Sixth Form in Lambeth.
For details of opening times and addresses please go to the Open House 2017 website for more information.
September 2017
Bellenden Primary School update
Construction work is progressing well at the new Bellenden Primary School in Peckham. The new building is part of Southwark’s Primary Expansion Programme increasing provision from a single to two forms of entry. The school are moving from their existing site nearby to the new building where we have also designed the landscape.
We are using a mixed palette of handmade bricks, coloured polycarbonate and precast concrete to give the school a strong identity embedded in the community. The scale of the building complements the surrounding residential properties with the pitched roofs and chimneys to the classrooms blocks.
The project is due to be completed in February 2018
August 2017
Open City, Architecture in Schools: Primary 2017
Paul and Hattie recently took part in the Architecture in Schools: Primary Programme run by Open City. Partnered with Year 5 at Reay Primary School in Lambeth and their teacher Lucy Coates to help engage the pupils directly with their built environment and give them the opportunity to propose their own ideas through creative challenges.
The brief this year was for the class to ‘Design your own open city neighbourhood’. After visiting Tate Modern with Lucy and the class they went on to draw, design and model make their open city designs. The efforts of Year 5 were rewarded with the class being awarded the Open City All-Rounder Prize 2017, along with Most Imaginative Design Year 5 and Best Class Effort Year 5.
We would like to congratulate the Year 5 class at Reay Primary School and their teacher Lucy.
August 2017
Streatham & Clapham High School
Phase 2 of the works at Streatham & Clapham High School is currently under construction. Phase 2 comprises of a new build extension featuring a new dining hall, new school entrance and reception facilities along with refurbishment works to the existing dining hall to provide a new kitchen and seminar space as well as landscape works throughout the school site.
As Phase 1, the structure is Cross Laminated Timber panels and Glulam ‘tree’ columns and beams.
The majority of the finishes will be the exposed cross laminated timber, with areas of plasterboard to achieve acoustic separation and conceal services installations.
Externally the new extension will be clad in curved glazed ceramic tiles to complement the curvature of the external walls with large expansive glazed curtain walling.
This project is due to be completed in February 2018.
July 2017
Harrow Design Review
We are pleased to announce that Richard Cottrell has been appointed as co-chair of the Harrow Design Review Panel.
Consisting of 50 experts from architecture, planning, engineering and development, the panel will meet each month to examine all significant schemes put forward in Harrow borough, both before and after they apply for planning permission.
See the full details here:
http://www.harrow.gov.uk/news/article/538/experts_flock_to_new_better_design_for_harrow_initiative
March 2017
Planning permission granted for Krishna Avanti Primary School
Krishna Avanti Primary School is a new build, two form entry primary school in Croydon. It is a Hindu faith Free school open to all, regardless of faith. It will be the third school Cottrell and Vermeulen have designed for the trust, Krishna Avanti primary school in Harrow was completed in 2008.
The Croydon school is located on a prominent site, straddling busy, built up Croydon and the leafy Waldrons Conservation area. These conditions have strongly influenced the design. The building features a linear teaching block, double height hall space and a roof top play deck. The school will be used by the community out of hours.
The scheme received planning permission in March 2017 and is due to start on site in May this year, with a planned opening date in September 2019.
March 2017
School & Work: Architectural Conversations between Pedagogy and Practice
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture was recently involved in an exhibition held at The Cass, London Metropolitan University, curated by Rita Adamo.
The exhibition School/Work: Architectural Conversations between Pedagogy and Practice focussed on the relationship between the theoretical world of university architecture and the applied world of practice and making in architecture all whilst complementing the school’s ethos of socially engaged architecture.
Our contribution to the exhibition saw some of our staff exhibiting their past university projects along with some of the projects that they have been involved in at the office.
January 2017
Planning permission granted for Churchill College
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture have secured planning consent for 30 new student rooms and five flats for postgraduate housing at Churchill College.
The new housing will be adjacent to Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture’s previous postgraduate housing scheme, which was completed in 2000. The development will extend the architectural and landscape approach of the original scheme to create a new consolidated postgraduate campus within the college. The project will be led by Simon and Priscilla who are both alumni of the College.
January 2017
Planning permission granted for Grove Lane
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture are set to construct a new two storey home within the Camberwell Grove Conservation Area.
The new house replaces an existing garage facing onto a mews street. This aims to be a contemporary and simple form which also harmonises with neighbouring properties. Large first floor windows are similar in scale to the neighbouring house, while minimal openings to the ground floor garage maintain privacy from the street. Rich textured stock brick and “waney-edge” timber panelling combine to form a simple yet interesting facade.
Alongside the new building Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture will also refurbishment and remodel the main existing Georgian house to make it function better for the residents. The front facade of the historic property will be refurbished, while excavation and remodelling of the front garden will provide improved access and daylight at the basement level.
November 2016
Brentwood School wins Brick Award
Brentwood School Learning Resource Centre has won a 2016 Brick Award for Best Education Building. The Brick Awards are organised by the Brick Development Association and recognise the very best use of the material in new buildings.
The judges citation for Brentwood School said:
‘Brick was instrumental in the construction of the school’s Learning Resource Centre which as an educational environment was subject to a myriad of practical considerations.
‘As an extension to the existing library, the subtle relief patterning of a heritage red blend brick provides an understated aesthetic, which gives a distinct character without detracting from the overall flow between buildings. This was articulated by one judge as ‘blending in easily while simultaneously bringing its own unique contribution’.
‘As well as providing an essential learning space fit for expanding young minds, brick has also been used to refocus the school’s sense of communal centre, through the tasteful use of brick archways and a new brick arcade. The quality of execution in these examples led to the judge’s summary: ‘exemplary brickwork’.’
November 2016
Construction has begun for Bellenden Primary School
Construction has begun for the new build Bellenden Primary School in Peckham, which when completed will allow the school to relocate from its existing run down facilities nearby to the new building on the site of a disused care home.
The school is an important centre for the local community, and its new building, nursery and play areas will offer upgraded community facilities. The location of the dining area and kitchen at the front of the site allows these areas to operate independently and securely from the school if required. As well as offering up to date teaching, play and community spaces, the new building will cater for rising pupil numbers, allowing expansion from one form entry to two form entry.
This project is due to be completed in February 2018.
September 2016
Construction underway for new house in Kenya
Construction on a new house in Kenya is well underway and is due to complete toward the end of the year. The two-storey house, located on Takangu Creek, uses local materials such as un-faced coral blocks and traditional building techniques, replicating the simplicity of traditional village houses. The building is off the grid, powered solely by renewable energy. The house will be embedded within an indigenous natural landscape, with low maintenance trees and shrubs providing a protected wildlife corridor for protected wildlife such as suni antelope, sunbirds, elephant shrew and Skyes’ monkeys.
May 2016
Hindu Haveli gains planning permission
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture are set to build a new two-storey haveli in the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor, a Hindu temple in Hertfordshire.
Bhaktivedanta Manor and grounds is used by the Hindu community for everyday worship and festivals. The new proposal introduces new worship and community facilities over 2100m2 of floor space, meeting the growing needs of the Hindu community both locally and nationally.
March 2016
CVA to design postgraduate housing for Churchill College, Cambridge
We are delighted to announce that we are winners of a competition to design postgraduate housing for Churchill College, Cambridge. The scheme will see an additional 30 student rooms and five flats built on the site.
The housing will be adjacent to Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture’s previous postgraduate housing scheme, which completed in 2000. The proposals will extend the architectural and landscape approach of the original scheme to create a new consolidated postgraduate campus within the college. The project will be led by Simon and Priscilla who are both alumni of the College. CVA beat a shortlist of practices including Mole Architects, 5th Studio, Alison Brooks Architects and Proctor and Matthews Architects.
March 2016
Cottrell and Vermeulen named Building Design’s Architect of the Year
We have claimed this year’s BD Architect of the Year gold award, following being named Education Architect of the Year for the second time since 2011.
BD’s annual celebration of architecture is highly regarded, unique in recognising a body of work and a dedication to the industry.
BD editor Thomas Lane said: “The judges felt Cottrell & Vermeulen represented a quiet and considered style of architecture which is very important in schools and public buildings. They have been doing this for many years. This is exactly the sort of architect who needs to be celebrated.”
Click here to read more about our Architect of the Year gold award win
December 2015
New learning resource centre now complete at Brentwood School
The school’s revamped LRC and adjoining new learning block have now reached completion, with the buildings set to be in full use in February.
The Bean LRC at Brentwood School in Essex provides the independent school with a new two-storey extension to their existing library, transforming how the building is used while meeting the demands of the 21st century technological landscape. The project also sees the redevelopment of an adjoining 1960s teaching block, increasing learning space and creating a sense of coherence between the buildings.
The existing Bean Library was built in 1929, encompassing two floors at the centre of the campus. Unable to accommodate the needs of 1,200 pupils, the library was seen be in vast need of improvement.
As well as creating an education hub, the ground floor of the library has been designed as a dedicated social area. An entrance portico links study and social spaces, offering a transition space that can be used for talks and lectures.
The design responds to the existing grain of the school site, which is characterised by a series of courtyards and quadrangles. The new buildings emphasise this approach, physically connecting the school’s central gardens through a new arcade. This arcade takes inspiration from a nearby cloister and informs the rest of the elevation, creating an array of arches that form a picturesque backdrop to a heavily used stage lawn.
Both buildings seek to reflect the existing built context, clad in a sympathetic red brick and offering similar proportions to surrounding buildings. A subtle brick patterning used on the Cunliffe Building contrasts with its surroundings and adds visual interest to the façade.