Mortimer Community School, Gateshead

Mortimer Community School was one of the sample schemes for the South Tyneside and Gateshead BSF bid. Colour provided innovation and thought provoking intellectual debate at all stages of the design process, constantly testing the opportunities for outdoor learning with the school and authority. This approach was highly commended by South Tyneside and Gateshead client team and proved to be a bid differentiator greatly assisting in the win of the STaG BSF programme. 

The design was developed based upon the school specialist of Art and Sport. The concept of art linking everything was formed:

The Masterplan was built on two layers; ‘Sport’ and ‘Arts, Creativity & Movement’.

‘Sport’ –  All of the sports pitches were moved together at the rear of the school, allowing the front ‘yard’ to be greened and made more welcoming to students and visitors. 

‘Art, Creativity & Movement’ - This concept was to develop a series of ‘create hubs’ - essentially outdoor teaching and social spaces - designed to link to art movements in an inspirational and creative form. This included: a horticulture garden, a materials garden next to the technology barn, a kitchen garden adjacent food technology, an experiment space, dining terrace, a large performance stage, and a smaller informal one. The top playgrounds were broken down with curved lawns and arboretum type tree planting with educational value, and the open boundary to the roads was defined and enclosed with tree and hedge planting.   

"We’re delighted and excited by the plans for the school. It has developed our thinking to looking at the whole school environment not only as a social space but also as an interactive learning environment.  We’ve been very happy with the service provided.”

Claire Mullane, Headteacher Mortimer Community School (January 2009)

Client

Gateshead Council / Carillion Plc

Location

Gateshead

Stage

Completed

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