Plans for second Mossbourne Academy approved after architects are sent back to drawing board

Artist’s impression of the new Mossbourne Academy building. Image: Hackney Council

Plans for a second Mossbourne Academy in the Victoria Park area of south Hackney have been granted planning permission despite initially having been met with resistance from residents and an independent planning review board.

Designed by architects Jestico & Whiles, the school will rework the existing 19th century French Hospital building in Victoria Park Village, on the former Cardinal Pole lower school site.

The school, which will aim to repeat the successes of Mossbourne Community Academy, will offer places for up to 800 students and will open in September 2014.

Residents were unhappy about the positioning of some of the buildings, prompting Jestico & Whiles to reconsider the plan, and the school was finally given the go-ahead this month.

The newly formed Hackney Design Review Board also expressed concerns about the ‘low-budget’ design, according to a report earlier this year in architectural trade publication Building Design.

But many others, including education chief Councillor Rita Krishna, feel the building is adequate and support the plans for a building that will meet a growing demand for quality schools.

Cllr Krishna said: “Despite this being an immensely complicated project involving a compact site and a listed building, with a very limited budget from the government, we’ve been able to adapt the plans to take on board residents’ concerns.

“Mossbourne Community Academy has achieved some phenomenal results and I’m sure its second school will do equally as well.”

Work will start on the site later this year and the academy will open for its first cohort of students in September 2014.