The school forms part of the regneration plan for the Gascoigne Estate

Surface to Air Architects has been appointed to design the new £35m Greatfields School for Barking & Dagenham Borough Council.

Located in the former Gascoigne Estate in Barking the development forms part of the wider Allies and Morrison-designed Weavers Quarter masterplan and includes a 700-pupil primary school and 1,800-pupil secondary school.

Surface to Air’s design for the school is focused on flexible spaces that promote learning, individual study and collaboration.

Greatfields School is expected to open to students in September 2019 and will become part of the group of Partnership Learning schools in the borough.

Surface to Air director Heidi Moxon said: “This facility will be a key civic project for Barking & Dagenham.

“With the needs of the local community at the forefront of our design process, our aim was to create a contemporary building that will allow pupils realise their full potential.”

Roger Leighton, chief executive of Partnership Learning, a local multi-academy trust, said: “Greatfields School will have its challenges – particularly its location at the heart of a dense, urban regeneration scheme – but we are confident that Surface to Air will develop a design that meets our educational vision.”