Conservation group in plea to save Victorian schools

THE Victorian Society has made a last-minute plea to Islington Council to halt its “unnecessarily destructive” plans to demolish two historic schools.

The fate of the Seacole Block at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School,  in Angel, and New River College PRU, a four-storey Victorian board school overlooking Paradise Park in Lough Road, will be sealed at next Tuesday’s west area planning committee meeting.

The two 19th-century buildings are due to be bulldozed as part of the borough’s £140million Building Schools for the Future programme, which is rebuilding eight Islington secondary schools. 

Although neither has listed building status, the Victorian Society believe they should be retained.

But Town Hall schools chief Lib Dem councillor Paula Belford said it is not “feasible to provide 21st-century schools within the existing buildings”.

Victorian Society conservation adviser Heloise Brown, who believes both buildings could be adapted to meet modern educational standards, said: “There are innovative and exciting ways in which historic schools can be adapted, but Islington doesn’t seem to have considered them. 

“They have been too easily persuaded that the buildings as they stand now aren’t suitable. But a huge amount can be done to modernise buildings like these and the end result is one which is valued by the community and has a link with the past.”

She added: “Knocking down high-quality, structurally sound buildings in order to replace them with new-build is deeply unsustainable.”

The Seacole Block was the original Victorian board school on the site. 

The Society says there was initial talk of retaining and adapting it but the planning application submitted to the council only suggests demolition.

The former board school in Lough Road, which dates back to 1891, is expected to be flattened to make way for a purpose-built pupil referral unit.

Cllr Belford said: “Through Islington’s BSF programme, we’re rebuilding and refurbishing all the secondary schools in the borough, giving students access to exciting, state-of-the-art schools. 

“The buildings are designed to be sustainable and meet the specific needs of each school, in the most cost effective way. The option of refurbishing the Victorian buildings at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and New River College PRU was thoroughly considered when BSF plans for both schools were being drawn up. But various important factors – such as a lack of good disabled access and the size and shape of teaching spaces – meant it wasn’t feasible to provide 21st-century schools within the existing buildings. Nor would it have represented good value for money.”

She added: “Both schools will be fully maintained for the next 25 years and the costs of this have been factored in. To do this in the most economical way – and following Government guidance – over 70 per cent of each development needs to be new-build.”
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