Haverstock’s considered scheme reconfigures and extends a Grade II listed Victorian school, providing flexible classrooms, group rooms, and a new dining hall to support modern teaching.

Riverside Primary School is a one-and-a-half-form-entry primary school with a 26-place nursery, located on a challenging and sensitive site centred around a Grade II listed Victorian London Board School in Southwark. Faced with outdated facilities and insufficient space, the school required a considered scheme to expand capacity and deliver a modern learning environment for 21st-century education.

Working within the constraints of a listed setting, Haverstock developed a holistic design that weaves new build and refurbishment together. The new elements are sympathetic in scale and form, allowing the historic architecture to remain the focal point while introducing flexible, contemporary facilities.

The project replaces dilapidated infant classrooms and an outdated caretaker’s building with a single-storey Key Stage 1 teaching block and a new kitchen and dining hall. The teaching block provides three well-proportioned classrooms, three group rooms, a staff office, cloakrooms, WCs and dedicated outdoor play areas for each classroom, supporting independent, collaborative and lower-stimulation learning. The Kitchen and Dining Block creates a modern, light-filled space for meals and social interaction, while the relocation of these functions has unlocked opportunities within the existing building.

The scheme was further enriched by a social value project made in collaboration with students. Together, the team created a suspended sculpture formed from over 250 handmade papermâché bowls, enabling students to express creativity and foster shared identity and pride in their learning environment.

Riverside now has flexible, contemporary facilities that meet growing spatial demands while celebrating the historic character of a much-loved school.