The building of the replacement St Andrew the Apostle School in Brunswick Park has been decoupled from a wider scheme including housing
By Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

A computer-generated image of the new school (Credit Department for Education/Stride Treglown Architecture)

Plans for a major housing scheme have been changed so work on a new school can start as soon as possible.

The replacement St Andrew the Apostle School planned for the North London Business Park development, which is set to provide at least 1,350 homes in Brunswick Park, has been decoupled from the rest of the scheme.

Changes have also been made to the design of the buildings to bring the sports hall closer to the school and make it easier for the wider community to use the facilities.

Comer Group, which is behind the residential scheme, has applied to increase the number of homes provided on the site to more than 2,400, and this is currently being considered by Barnet Council.

The revised plans for the school were approved by the council’s strategic planning committee during a meeting on Tuesday. Fabien Gaudin, the council’s director of planning and building control, told the committee the changes would not lead to any traffic or parking issues above and beyond the existing planning permission.

St Andrew the Apostle, which opened on a temporary site at the business park in 2013, is the only Greek Orthodox secondary school in the country. The new facility will provide space for 1,050 pupils.

Stelios Stylianou, project director at the Department for Education, told the meeting the school was in the top half of performance for the borough with good Ofsted ratings.

He added: “The rephasing will help the local community, in that phasing of construction works will not overlap, so it will allow the school to go ahead first.”

Stelios said the changes would mean “more outdoor space for the children”, as well as making the site safer and allowing pupils to move more easily between buildings.

Noting that the revised site layout would move the sports pitch closer to residential buildings, councillors called for measures such as acoustic fencing and tree planting to be considered to control noise levels. The changes were then unanimously approved by the committee.

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