Buschow Henley bring a rare insight and breadth of experience to the education sector.  We combine experience in education with the ability to transfer knowledge and skills from other sectors (be it from workplace design, adaptive reuse or public private procurement) and apply it with transformative effect. We bring an understanding of people and of complex organisations. We believe a school should not simply respond to the latest policy guidance. Instead it is the pupils, teachers and community the school serves who inspire our work - creating learning environments that reflect not just pedagogy but also their culture.

Ongoing education projects include: a masterplan for Roehampton University incorporating the development of the new University library, graduation hall & on-site retail facilities and halls of residence for 500+ students; the plan consolidates the School of Arts, School of Education, School of Business and Social Sciences & the School of Human and Life Sciences in new or refurbished facilities. We are now developing specific projects for teaching and learning including a combined sports pavilion for the University and Putney High School; and a 10-year masterplan for Bedford Modern School to create a new music and drama centre, science school and entrance and to upgrade their estate (CLASP system) to exceed current environmental performance standards mitigating the need for comprehensive demolition & redevelopment.

In 2008 we completed the Cloisters for St. Benedict’s, Ealing (comprising a new multi-purpose hall, music school, languages department chapel and entrance) which is featured in the CABE publication entitled New from Old: Transforming Secondary Schools Through Refurbishment. It has been published in The Observer, Building Design, Architecture Today and the Roman Catholic weekly newspaper The Universe, and will soon feature in the forthcoming BCSE Remodeling Great Schools publication. It has won the 2009 BCSE Award for Best Extension, Refurbishment or Remodel of a School and a 2009 RIBA National Award.

We have been working in the education sector for more than a decade beginning in 1995 with a mobile teaching theatre for L’Ouverture, a learning charity, working in London with primary school children and young adults. In 2002 we completed a permanent base for L’Ouverture at Trinity Buoy Wharf on the bank of the Thames opposite the Dome/ O2 Arena.

In 1998 the Virtual Reality Centre was created within an existing building for University College, London.  In 2000 we were runners-up in the DfES sponsored Schoolworks competition which sought an architecture which would positively affect the educational outcomes. In 2002, we developed a model 21st Century Prison entitled Learning Works for the Prison Service, with think tanks ‘The Do Tank’ and Demos to demonstrate how education should inform design to reduce recidivism and improve the prospect of resettlement.  This led to a commission from the UNDP in Somaliland.

Our work at Caldicott School, South Bucks includes the competition-winning Centenary Hall performing arts building, new science block, classrooms and seminar spaces and creates a new quad, which provides a focus for the school. It has been published in the Evening Standard, the RIBA Journal and School Buildings. 

Buschow Henley is a founding member of the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) where we have been closely involved in discussions on policy and research. Simon Henley is a member of the CABE Enabling Panel and the CABE Schools Design Review Panel, which reviews BSF sample schools, and, from Autumn 2009 will be “policing” a design threshold which all schemes will have to achieve to receive funding from PfS. In this context the CABE panel look to him for his expertise not only in education, but also in PPP D&B procured buildings, integrated sustainable design and the adaptive reuse of the existing buildings.