Winchester College Music School

Winchester College's new musical school

Facts and figures

  • £4m construction project
  • Combination of new build and refurbishment with tight scheduling
  • Facilities to accommodate around 700 music lessons per week

Construction of a new Music School extension for Winchester College required a highly-technical engineering solution to address challenging structural constraints and strict planning requirements. 

Interserve's approach was marked by extensive attention to detail, close liaison with the client and a flexible approach to meet the needs of the College.

Winchester College has a strong musical tradition, with 500 pupils learning at least one instrument. The new three-storey extension includes a recording studio, technology centre, keyboard laboratory and recital rooms and, due to acoustic considerations, has no walls that are parallel or at 90 degrees. Consequently, all works were set out using a 'total station' to ensure accurate co-ordinates for brickwork and steel.

Furthermore, the new building is an extension to a Grade I listed building, which impacted on the materials that could be used. For example, a natural mortar was used for the brickwork façade, with careful blending from different loads to match the colour of existing mortar. The construction also features an innovative butterfly roof design to maximise natural daylight and ventilation, combined with a siphonic roof drainage scheme.

In addition to the new extension, the existing Grade I building was refurbished with new heating and lighting, along with roof repairs, stone repairs, redecorations and joinery works. Interserve's flexible works scheduling enabled the work to be carried out during school holidays to minimise disruption.

Achievements

  • Fast-track mobilisation of four weeks
  • Construction within live school environment
  • Bath stone features within award-winning brickwork façade
  • Use of horizontal curved zinc cladding
  • Sustainable features include:
    • Adaptations for climate change, such as retrofit of solar film to windows
    • Raw materials from sustainable sources wherever possible
    • Waterless urinals and zoned water metering
    • Extensive energy metering
    • Onsite segregation of solid and hazardous waste
    • Box-in-box acoustic design for recording studios
    • Use of waterproof concrete in flood-prone areas