Pictured above: the new unique changing rooms on the Heseltines with a sedum roof.  A maintenance building has also been completed and planning permission for a new Sixth Form Centre has been agreed.  

Two new buildings and Planning Permission for a major new development of a Sixth Form Centre were completed this year.

The first building is the latest addition to Brentwood School's impressive range of sporting facilities: a new changing room block on the Heseltines Playing Fields. 

The growth of Extra-Curricular activities at Brentwood School in the last 4 years, especially on the games fields, has meant that the School now plays more boys and girls fixtures than at any time in its history.  The School had the pitches, staff and players to maintain its status as a top games school but really needed the changing facilities to match the standard of sport being played by the pupils.  This need has now been met by a new changing room block, strategically placed to serve the playing fields and the running track.  Specially designed by the School Surveyors, its low profile and curved sedum-planted roof means that whilst the building is large enough to allow up to 200 people to change at any one time, it sits well in the open landscape of the playing fields.

Inside, the building is divided into 8 changing rooms.  Each of these changing rooms has direct access to the sports fields.  There are also changing areas for staff, referees and disabled people.  Headmaster of Brentwood School commented "We are particularly pleased with the mix of this stylish utility and the environmentally-sensitive appearance."

The second building is a new Maintenance Department Building.  For the past 14 years or so, the School Maintenance Department has been based in the ‘temporary' buildings originally used as the Applied Science classrooms.  At the start of Trinity Term 2008, however, the Maintenance Team moved to new purpose-built accommodation next to the school Dining Halls. 

The building, constructed of red brickwork and Essex-boarding, is specially designed to promote more effective and efficient use of space.  Thus, the building is 50% smaller than the vacated building but provides all the workshops, stores and offices required by the busy Maintenance Team.  Importantly, the new site allows delivery trucks direct access to the building without driving through car parks or main school areas. 

Whilst these buildings were being constructed, Brentwood School received formal planning permission from the Brentwood Borough Council for a major development to build a sixth form centre, auditorium and classroom block.  The core of this project is the Otway building.  The old vicarage will be retained as the 6th Form Centre, although it will be substantially altered inside to provide open-plan common room and study areas, as well as offices.  To one side of Otway a new 400-seat auditorium will be built to provide much needed space for year-group assemblies, seminars and concerts.  To the other side of Otway, a 3-storey classroom block will provide 16 new teaching rooms, plus offices and other facilities.   The whole complex will provide a modern and purpose-built facility that will be used predominantly by the 6th Form, and will cater especially for International Baccalaureate classes, but will be a tremendous asset for the whole School.  A modern yet sympathetic design, complimenting Main School as well as the retained Otway, will add both to the stature of the School and to this particular area of Brentwood.  The Governors have found significant interest among contractors and hope to go out to tender early next year with a view to starting work in the Spring.