An inspirational, state-of-the-art Special Education Needs (SEN) school, Glenwood SEN School is a home-from-home for 210 students aged 3 to 19 years old with learning difficulties.

Replacing a much-loved existing school building came with a unique set of challenges, the most important of which was that the new Glenwood School had to feel like the old Glenwood School. A challenge the team met and exceeded. The new Glenwood School is a two-storey timber frame building with 26 spacious classrooms, a hydrotherapy pool and specialist facilities including swing therapy rooms and a trampoline room, along with an independent living area for older students and two hall spaces.

Keeping the needs of the end users in mind at all stages was a key priority, with all staff and subcontractors on the project given tours of the old school to highlight this importance. Regular meetings were held to ensure the design incorporated all support equipment, such as hoists, from an early stage, with sample rooms delivered early to allow the team to agree quality benchmarks. The cross-laminated timber frame is robust and resilient, and its use also reduced the build time by around 15%.

Watch the full BBC News clip about the school here.