CHS South boosts secondary school provision in Greater Manchester

Students at Manchester’s newest school, CHS South, will be looking forward to returning in the New Year following a successful first term spent at their brand-new purpose-built facilities.

Designed by Pozzoni Architecture, built by BAM Construction and handed over four weeks ahead of schedule, the new, inclusive CHS South building educates 1,200 students and has been equipped with state-of-the-art specialist equipment and facilities to support students on their journey to become creative, happy and successful.

Alongside a full range of classrooms equipped with the latest teaching technology including specialist science, computing, and technology rooms, the school also offers professional standard arts facilities including theatre and drama studios, music classrooms and practice rooms, a sprung dance studio and art and photography suites.

Through careful planning of the layout within the school, key departments that need to be adjacent to each other have been situated on the same floors, minimising any potential disruption for pupils and staff.

CHS South also offers superior sporting facilities including a professional standard sports hall, Astroturf pitch, basketball and netball courts and table tennis facilities, which are all available for community use outside of school hours.

With its role at the heart of the local community a key consideration, the building’s layout been designed with this accessibility in mind, and the sports department has its own dedicated entrance for out of hours community use, while the auditorium and dance studio are all accessible at ground floor level.

With pupil safety being paramount, local transport routes have been improved as part of the project, thanks to the creation of a pedestrian cycleway to the south of Mauldeth Road West, widening of the existing crossing point, pedestrian improvements at the junction of Alexandra Road South and Mauldeth Road South, as well as traffic regulation orders and speed warning signs on Mauldeth Road West.

Catherine Mulley, Director at Pozzoni Architecture, said:

“It’s been great to see students at CHS South settling in and enjoying their new facilities. The school is playing an important role in boosting the secondary school capacity in Greater Manchester, but most of all it is providing the perfect surroundings for 1,200 students to learn and grow together.

“We’ve chosen a mix of materials for the school that will be both robust and low-maintenance for many years to come, which are key considerations in any project for the Department for Education (DfE).

“Meanwhile, the simple colour palette, with its pleasantly contrasting light brick and dark panel facades, works well against the pink feature elements that reflect the school’s brand identity giving present and future students a school they can be proud to attend.”

BAM’s Project Manager, Ewan Bell, said:

“The overriding success of the project was down to the strong and open relationships we developed with the DfE project team, design team and CHS South. We worked with a ‘one team’ approach throughout and this undoubtedly contributed to its overall success and the quality of the new high school.”