Designing a specialist school where every learner can thrive.
For more than six years, our practice has supported WSP as Architectural Technical Advisors across both the TAS21 and now the new TAS25 frameworks. Over this period, we have developed a deep, practical understanding of the Department for Education’s requirements, design guidance and delivery expectations for modern, efficient and future-proof schools across the UK.
Extensive Experience Across DfE Programmes
During the TAS21 programme, we worked on more than 20 school projects nationwide, advising on complex site constraints, operational challenges and compliance with DfE standards. With the shift to TAS25 in October 2025, we have continued this work with a growing portfolio of new projects—particularly across the North East and Yorkshire—applying our detailed knowledge of the latest DfE Pattern Book and its “rules of assembly” for the next generation of school buildings.
Expertise in the DfE S25 Pattern Book
Our team has immersed itself in the new TAS25 design framework, which focuses on delivering adaptable schools built around clear and logical layouts, consistent classroom sizes, departmental clustering and strong indoor–outdoor relationships. We are well-versed in the key design drivers, including movement and behaviour strategies, the campus model, landscape character areas and the future-flexibility principles such as regular grids and easily reconfigurable teaching blocks.
We also have detailed experience in understanding the role of link buildings and “knuckles” in connecting non-linear blocks, ensuring compliance with DfE assembly rules while maintaining circulation efficiency and supervision.
Recent and Notable Project Experience
Our TAS25 commissions include:
Lady Lumley’s School, Pickering (TAS25)– A sensitively designed secondary school within a conservation area, responding to protected sightlines towards the castle and the unique landscape setting.
St Aloysius Primary School, South Tyneside (TAS25) – A split-site school requiring early-stage feasibility work to address operational challenges of infants and juniors located on opposite sides of the road.
St Aidan’s Catholic Academy, Sunderland (TAS21) – A complex constrained-site redevelopment where we developed a strategy to maintain full school operation, avoid temporary accommodation and design around a major culvert running through the main playground. The final scheme closely aligns with the now-approved solution currently under construction.
Supporting Condition-Led DfE Programmes
Both TAS21 and TAS25 are condition-led frameworks, with scope defined only after rigorous estate surveys and technical reviews. Our role has consistently been to interpret these findings into robust, compliant, efficient and educationally sound design advice—ensuring that every project is grounded in real-world practicality as well as long-term value.
