BDP has designed the WaterShed at the Wardle Academy in Manchester, England.

This project is an innovative, low-tech and low-carbon concept to transform a 1970s local authority leisure centre into a dynamic 21st-century teaching space.

The brief required flexible modules for student learning, minimal construction waste and natural, sustainable materials throughout.

BDP’s design approach challenges the permanence and inflexibility of teaching spaces to create an exemplar the school can use to inform future education and community projects.

Flexible classrooms within "learning sheds" are constructed entirely from locally available, off-the-shelf materials on either side of the central social learning space where memories of the former sports hall remain in the finer details.

This project has been longlisted in the rebirth project category of Dezeen Awards 2022.

Designer: BDP

Project: WaterShed, Wardle Academy