New Refectory/Dining Room A key part of the redevelopment works of the existing Grade 2 Listed Victorian building for St James School for Boys was to identify a suitable location to form a new school refectory. The Head master required that the new space should be able to accommodate the whole senior school once the pupil numbers had expanded as anticipated to 440 boys and staff. Several options for the refectory were considered but as this required a large space it was impossible to find suitable options within the existing building without involving significant alteration to the 'Listed' fabric. It was therefore agreed that a new space was required and a site based on one of the existing internal courtyards was selected. This proposal offered significant advantages, its location between the proposed Senior and Junior schools, and being adjacent to the existing kitchen and servery areas. It was easily accessible from within the building and offered easy access to the grounds. The space was designed so that it can be used for functions and receptions at the school and incorporates a small bar facility. The large and irregular shape of the floor plan defined by the edges of the existing courtyard and the restriction on the height of the new building at its perimeter, is unified by creating a large simply proportioned and well lit vaulted roof in the centre of the space, which gives the space a good height and visual coherence and allows the whole school to meet for lunch under one roof. New Library and 6th Form Centre At the top of the school's requirement for the new buildings at Ashford was the formation of a new library and 6th form centre to provide a focus for the school's academic aspirations. The preferred place to locate these key facilities was in the large open space at 2nd floor that spanned across the whole of the school frontage. This tall space, opening into the roof pitch and lit by clerestory windows on both sides for its full length, had been used originally as dormitory accommodation and then subject to many poorly executed and non-compliant alterations. A major practical difficulty to using this space was presented by the tie rods at approx. 2.2 metres high which held the roof structure together at this level. These were visually intrusive and were too exposed to misuse on the part of the boys, which the engineer considered could lead to structural problems in the building. The proposed design for this area included a structural frame at each end of the space which would support the existing roof structure and allow some of the tie beams in key areas to be removed. This enabled 2 full height spaces to be formed as the library and 6th form study area at each end of the space. In the centre the tie bars, which were essential to support the clock tower, were retained and incorporated into the new partitions forming the 6th form tutorial rooms. All the spaces at this level are interconnected with glazed doors positioned on the central axis of the space allowing a strong sense of the scale of the space to be retained. The new spaces are lit by the existing clerestory windows providing a supportive environment for study and reflection.