Hackney New School to unveil new art, music and science buildings

Professor Green. Photograph: Eva Rinaldi via Flickr

Hackney New School will officially open its new buildings on Kingsland Road on Friday, with the aide of musician Professor Green, academic Professor Anthony Grayling and the school’s trustees.

The latest additions to the school’s complex, sitting adjacent to the Kingsland Wharf, will house music performance space, a dining room and art and science buildings.

A local architecture firm, Henley Halebrown Rorrison of Perseverance Works, was appointed to mastermind the plans. They designed the buildings to be in keeping with the surrounding area, in brick and with a simple geometry.

Professor A. C. Grayling is Founder and Master of the New College of the Humanities. He has written and edited over thirty books, including Ideas That Matter, Liberty in the Age of Terror and To Set Prometheus Free.

Rapper and songwriter Professor Green grew up in Hackney and left school at 13. He has recently worked closely with Nottingham City Council on its anti-truancy campaign.

Phillippa De’Ath, Vice-Chair of Governors, said: “We’re excited to be able to celebrate the completion of HNS buildings with parents, students and others who have been so supportive of the school over the first five years of its development.”

The music­-focused Hackney New School was founded in 2013 by Hackney locals Andreas Wesemann, Phillippa De’Ath, Sophie Solomon and Andrew Tetlow, under the headship of Lesley Falconer. All students learn a musical instrument for free and perform regularly.

The school is currently in consultation over plans to construct a new primary school building on the former Kingsland fire station site. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) recently bought the spot, which meant proposals for a permanent home for the school, alongside new housing and retail space, could be brought forward.

The construction of the primary school will be funded though the building of adjacent retail space and a block of up to 63 apartments. The scheme is part of a joint venture with the Benyon Estate and the Department for Education.