Architect - Stride Treglown

Contractor - West Sussex County Council

Client - Willmott Dixon Construction

Completion - June 2010

The new 14,000m2 secondary school building was completed to replace the outmoded upper and lower school buildings on the site, as part of the Labour governments Building Schools for the Future programme for West Sussex County Council.

Stride Treglown spent a great deal of time with pupils, staff and other stakeholders to ensure that the design of The Regis School meets their aspirations and those of people who enjoy this fantastic community facility.  The design has evolved from a range of complex requirements and responds to a host of interconnected constraints. The location of the building, for example, was driven by the need to retain the existing Glade Infant school, (now demolished and relocated in the new Southway Primary School), keep the campus operational at all times, and take account of the site’s existing features – the entrance route, the ATP, the Arena and its car park and the proximity of neighbouring properties. The Regis School and its associated facilities play a very important role in the lives of its local community. It is central to the development of Bognor and the betterment of its student population, but is also a place that Bognor Regis can be very proud of.

The interior design of the school was developed in conjunction with stakeholders including the pupils.  The architects sought not just to renew a range of classrooms but to create an environment that lifts the spirits as you enter it and says to every learner that they are valued.  This is created in physical form by two atriums, fundamental to this philosophy, allowing the Learning Resource and Dining areas to be sited at the base of welcoming, bright, top-lit voids. These open, lofty spaces act as focal points around which the school is arranged, minimising corridors and ensuring that learning is highly visible across the school.  As part of the detailed design of the building, Stride Treglown’s interior design team worked with their architects, access and inclusion specialists and the school leaders to create a framework based around the school’s six houses to assist wayfinding around these spaces, ensuring that the lighting, visual clarity and tonal contrast would optimise people’s navigation and their sense of well being. The pupils played an active part in choosing the colours of the houses, these colours bring the building to life.