Portal House is a school for pupils with significant behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, and the extensive development includes the refurbishment of the original school building together with a new 3 storey teaching block and sports hall set in a new landscaped masterplan. The double-pitched roof concept for the new building draws on the local Kent vernacular, and the use of humble traditional materials with simple modern detailing gives the building a quiet but distinct contemporary identity. Both internal and external spaces provide learning environments that are modest, simple but inspiring, subtly reinforcing the School’s underlying philosophy of caring and nurturing whilst maintaining appropriate levels of passive supervision.