Charterhouse is one of the UK’s leading independent boarding schools, providing a first-class education for its pupils. The school is moving to full coeducation from the age of 13 and has developed an ambitious strategy to deliver this expansion which will welcome the first year 9 girls in September 2021. The main challenge will be to develop new boarding houses to accommodate the additional students.
In 2017 Charterhouse commissioned a masterplan to assess how the school’s ambitions could be realised, identifying refurbishment opportunities, what new buildings were required and where they could go. Savills advised on a planning strategy to input into the masterplan, sought pre-application advice from the local planning authority and engaged with local politicians.
As a result, pre-application advice and feedback from local politicians was positive. Since that time Savills has:
- Gained planning permission in March 2019 for extensions to and refurbishment of an existing building to form a reception and admissions centre
- Gained planning permission in August 2019 for two new boarding houses with 128 beds, forming a crucial part of the plan to become coeducational and expand pupil numbers
- Submitted planning and listed building consent applications for a new dining hall / café (approval expected end of 2019)
- Advised on a scheme for the pedestrianisation of the old school central campus with associated car parking facilities elsewhere on the campus