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Rowandale School Design Gets Top Marks From Pupils, Parents and Teachers!

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Hamilton Architects is delighted with the community response to our plans for the new Rowandale Integrated Primary School in Moira following a successful consultation with the design team.

Project Architect Graeme Ogle, Partner at Hamilton Architects, said: “The practice is delighted to be delivering this exciting new scheme for Rowandale and Moira.

“Completion of this project will guarantee state-of-the-art facilities for pupils and teachers which will take them well into the 21st century.”

Parents, pupils and members of the local community gathered at the school to hear news of the exciting development for the school, which opened on the site of a farm on the outskirts of Moira in 2007 with just 18 children.

Principal Frances Hughes said: “Plans are progressing well with the new build on the current site, which will see the school extend to become a 14-classroom building to accommodate the yearly increase in pupil numbers.

“We are very excited about this investment at the school, which will have a positive impact on pupils, teachers and school staff now and for generations to come.”

The new classrooms will be situated along a curve, with a progression from P1 to P7. Four separate entrances will give the children access to the classrooms via external soft play areas.

A separate building, linked by a corridor and with its own main entrance, will offer a dining and sports hall, as well as a library and utility rooms.

The design also seeks to ease traffic congestion by providing a two-lane drop-off/pick-up facility, along with an additional 40 parking spaces for staff.

The building will also adhere to BREEAM requirements for energy conservation and sustainability.

Rowandale, which is receiving funding from the £500m capital investment in integrated and shared education, is one of the fastest – growing schools in Northern Ireland and the only integrated primary school serving the wider Moira area.

Its reputation for excellence means that every year it has needed a new classroom to meet demand from parents and, by 2021, is anticipating needing to accommodate almost 400 pupils.