We are pleased to announce that planning permission has been approved for the development of ‘Beech Court Pavilion’ – a new dining facility for Abingdon School in Oxfordshire.

David Morley Architects is currently working with the school on upgrading two of its boarding houses ‘Austin House’ and ‘Crescent House’ and the new dining facility will mark our third current project on site.

All three buildings are due to open in September 2023 and aim to significantly improve the day-to-day experience for the pupils and staff at the school.

Beech Court Pavilion will be connected to the existing ‘Amey Theatre’ foyer, and is designed to sit sensitively within a garden setting. The dynamic shaped roof of the new pavilion is designed to appear as lightweight as possible with its sculpted form complementing the strong geometry of the pitched roofs of the Amey Theatre. The external materials and colour palette have been selected to complement the adjacent Beech Court building and the rich mix of surrounding buildings. The Beech Court building accommodated a library, sixth form centre and art studio and was also designed by David Morley Architects, completed in 2018.

Described by Justin Hodges, Director of Finance and Operations, as “a real hub for school life,” the new pavilion will create a fantastic new flexible space that can be used throughout the day for a variety of uses. In addition to its main purpose of providing a new dining facility for the senior three years of the school, students will also be able to use the pavilion as a space to study, and the theatre will optimise the space for use as additional foyer space in the evenings.

The foundations are already in for Austin House and Crescent House, and construction is due to begin for Beech Court Pavilion in September this year. Take a closer look at the designs through this short video by Abingdon School: