Wycliffe College Increase Boarding House Provision
Wycliffe College embarked on a project to increase their boarding house provision, providing a wider and flexible offering to boarding and day pupils.
Wards’ Boys House was rebuilt along with the Ivy Grove Girls House being repurposed for much needed classroom and office space.
The school now have a new mixed-use boarding facility for 13 to 18 years olds accommodating full time, flexi and day boarders in Gloucestershire. The house has been designed to provide shared social and communal areas for both boys and girls with the accommodation areas securely separated.
The aim was to move away from the dormitory style accommodation with shared facilities to create an agile accommodation and education environment.
Our design team worked with the school and Buttress Architects to achieve a modern look which was more homely than previous the dormitory arrangement. It was important to optimise the space available for studying, activities and storage.
The flexible design provides an easily adaptable space that can be transformed depending on the school’s requirements. Modules and furniture have been made to create a sustainable environment allowing the school the adapt their boarding options as required.
This was driven by a need to be able to respond to uncertainty in the type of boarder and mix of age and sex that is reflected in the different room layouts. The ability to adapt and interchange the room use with the same furniture gives a huge scope for flexibility.
The furniture design was integral to the planning of these modules and ability to adapt to different configurations and layout of furniture required for full boarders or day/flexi boarders.
During the project, we designed and manufactured bespoke bedroom and en-suite furniture for the boarding facility including beds, wardrobes and storage furniture to ensure that the available space was maximised, and to create a comfortable environment for the students. We also worked with the school to design items for the linen and laundry rooms in the dormitory.
We designed and fitted a sample room according to the plans that had been agreed by Buttress Ltd and the client. This was essential to get a true feel for the furniture and how each piece integrated into the space.
“Witley Jones have worked with both the client and Buttress on numerous independent school boarding projects, which provided the confidence that they would deliver an excellent service, a collaborative and integrated approach as part of the client, design team and construction team with their long-standing Knowledge and experience of the bespoke furniture market.” Chris Whelan, Buttress Ltd.
“Witley Jones recently manufactured and installed over 65 bed spaces for Ward’s Boarding House here at Wycliffe. They also provided vanity units for each of the room’s en suites, dining furniture, trophy cabinets, common room furniture and furnished the cleaners/ linen store.
They met our specific requirements for each of these area, particularly the level of detail involved with the intricacies in each of the bedrooms; they were flexible and able to adapt to the conditions of the build during their delivery and installation programme, as well as manufacturing everything within the agreed timeframe.
We are delighted with the final outcome and the level of aftercare Witley Jones offer and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them for future projects.” Mark Rickard, Estates Bursar.
Stay up to date with furniture design trends
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.