The Heathland School Wellbeing Centre

Situated within the London Borough of Hounslow, the Heathland School has approximately 1,800 students enrolled across all age groups, including a growing portion of students for whom they provide specific support for medical, learning, or mental health needs. As such, the school and council identified an essential requirement for a dedicated space from which the inclusion team can operate. Webb Yates were appointed to provide a holistic engineering solution through structural, civil, and building services engineering expertise.

The responding design is a multi-functional, single-storey ‘Welfare Building’ set on the footprint of a former caretakers building. The new building houses the school’s the inclusion team in dedicated office space, alongside flexible spaces that are to be used as one-to-one or small group teaching accommodation, private rooms for visiting education phycologists and speech therapists, and respite areas. A number of the rooms feature sheltered decked terraces which address and rationalise the site’s angular geometry, while providing essential ‘cooling off’ areas and outdoor learning opportunities.

Sustainability underpinned the client’s brief from the start, resulting in the collaborative development of a low embodied and operational carbon scheme. The unique structure employs low-carbon and recycled materials throughout, including a foundation system utilising used car tyres and timber piles, and external walls formed with loadbearing straw bales. A timber mezzanine level is created to house plant equipment, and a canopy cantilevers out to the east, providing cover for a ramp leading up to the entrance.

The zero carbon in-use building is environmentally treated through air source heat pumps. Fresh air is provided by heat recovery ventilation, controlled to allow natural ventilation during clement conditions. Lighting throughout applies efficient LED controlled by occupancy and daylight sensors. Solar gains in the warmer months are reduced through the inclusion of roof overhangs and low gain windows. The timber pitched roof facilitates a biodiverse meadow roof and on-site renewable energy generation from a photovoltaic array, offsetting the operational carbon.

The drainage design, in combination with the landscape design, further enhances the site’s sustainability, with a rainwater capture system managing surface runoff and reducing water demand. Landscaping to the south of the site creates a biodiverse sensory garden space. A central feature of the sensory garden is a ‘rain garden’, which is supplied by a proportion of the stored rainwater.

The project was recognised by the IStructE for a commitment to natural, renewable materials and community engagement at the Structural Awards 2025.