Practice beats shortlist of eight for job including Haworth Tompkins, Allies and Morrison and Broadway Malyan
Stride Treglown has won a competition to develop a 20-year strategic masterplan for the world-famous Brit School in Croydon.
A total of 67 practices entered a contest launched earlier this year with Stride Treglown beating a final shortlist of eight rival bidders for the job including Haworth Tompkins, Allies and Morrison, Broadway Malyan and Marks Barfield.
The renowned performing arts school has trained some of the UK’s most successful artists of the past few decades including Adele, Amy Winehouse, Olivia Dean, FKA Twigs, RAYE, Leona Lewis and Jessie J.
Louise Cooper, the school’s chief operating officer, said the practice had “demonstrated a genuine understanding of our ambitions and a commitment to collaboration that strongly aligned with our values”.
Stride Treglown will lead a consultant team including Hemingway Design, Untitled Practice, Gleeds and Civic Engineers, developing a long-term framework for the estate which will enable the school to modernise its facilities and support future growth.
The resulting masterplan, which will be co-designed with students and staff, will aim to improve connections across the estate, upgrade outdoor spaces, create new spots for outdoor performances and create a “stronger sense of place” on the campus, the school said.
Stride Treglown board director Danny Harris said the project was about “listening first” and understanding what students and staff needed from their environment.
“The BRIT School is an extraordinary institution with creativity embedded in everything it does. What excited us most was the opportunity to think beyond individual buildings and instead develop a long-term vision for how the campus can evolve over time,” Harris said.
He added: “Our first impressions of the site were of a community alive with creativity - students constantly performing, rehearsing and expressing themselves across the campus.
“In many ways, the campus already acts as a stage, but the environment doesn’t fully support or celebrate that energy.
“A key challenge, therefore, is how to transform an ageing estate into an inspiring place for performance in all its forms and to create opportunities for play and expression in everyday ‘third spaces’ such as corridors and outdoor areas.”
BRIT alumni have contributed to more than 280 million album sales and over 70 billion streams of music. Collectively, they have achieved major international recognition, including 28 BRIT Awards, 25 Grammy Awards, 23 MOBO Awards, three BAFTAs and two Oscars.
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