Cargilfield Primary School is the oldest independent boarding and day prep school in Scotland, with currently more than 300 boys and girls aged 3-13 years. The school delivers a broad and challenging education in a supportive and caring family-led environment, which prepares the pupils before they leave to join leading senior schools throughout the UK. The school is proud of its sporting success, with pupils regularly being represented at both regional and national level, and with school teams being national champions on many occasions.
The school recognised that its current artificial pitch was in need of replacement, after 15 years of usage, and additionally, when the existing artificial pitch is not able to be used, that this places more pressure on their existing grass pitches, in terms of both space available to accommodate the sports curriculum and also general wear and tear on the natural grass surface. The school considered that it was time to invest in a substantial improvement and expansion to their artificial pitch provision, and h+m were appointed with MAC Consulting to develop a siting and design strategy for the redevelopment which recognised the importance of the landscape setting and character of the school, and the need to conserve and protect this attribute in the context of any proposed development and improvement of the school’s facilities.
Various strategic site layout options were generated, considering both the replacement of the existing artificial pitch with a new facility, or providing the new pitch in other locations within the school grounds and returning the existing pitch to grass. Each option considered the implications on the existing summer and winter sports pitch layout. These were reviewed with the school to establish their key requirements and priorities, to establish which option best met their needs and aspirations.
The school concluded that in order to maximise benefits to the sports curriculum:
- The proposed pitch should be an addition to the existing pitch, rather than a replacement for it, with the existing pitch being retained and upgraded to suit the schools requirements
- The footprint of the new pitch should be the maximum size achievable consistent with other practical and environmental considerations, to allow maximum flexibility of use
- Integrating the relocation and expansion of the existing grounds maintenance store to provide a more direct, safe and convenient route to the sports pitches, together with rationalisation of other sports storage facilities, should form part of the overall proposal.
h+m coordinated the development of the overall design layout and acted as planning agents for the project.