A nursery school project and wayfinding system to aid the visually impaired are also in the plans and will be key community benefits. This is Alumno’s fourth development in Southwark, providing with fully integrated facilities for 143 students, including high-quality rooms with shared amenities, such as a basement cinema lounge, study room and community area.
Alscot Road will follow the aims of Alumno’s previous projects in delivering key local community benefits and ensuring place making objectives are met. Working closely with the local Kintore Way Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Alumno has committed to funding an archive project documenting the nursery’s long and fascinating history, which dates back to before the Second World War. The current unusable playground will also be refurbished to provide facilities for disabled children.
Alumno is also collaborating with local science researcher Danny Ball on a pioneering and innovative wayfinding technology to meet the growing challenge people face in navigating their way through the modern built environment, particularly those who are visually impaired and hard of sight. Working with Alumno, Ball has developed a brief and technological tools to establish a network of monitors and signal links to create a Bluetooth-driven wayfinding system. This will be accessible to all local residents and visitors to the area via a smartphone app.
During the consultation process, Alscot Road’s striking design, developed with regular Alumno partner Greenaway Architecture, was singled out for particular praise by Southwark council.
The development will not only provide much needed high-quality accommodation for the area’s student population, but will also contribute to the vibrancy of this diverse neighbourhood and make a valuable contribution to the local community in line with our ethos of always giving something back.
D. Campbell, Managing Director, Alumno