Madani Girls School, Poplar, London
Squire Heritage Consulting prepared a Heritage Statement to support a planning application for a new annexe behind a listed late nineteenth-century school in Tower Hamlets. Described by Pevsner as a “unique, outstanding design”, the school’s distinctive architecture includes two semi-circular staircase towers and a copper dome. Red-brick window surrounds, stucco bands, decorative mouldings and recessed arched windows contribute to its architectural significance and distinguish it from the more restrained Georgian terraces nearby.
The proposal involved constructing a new building within the rear car park and amenity area, without demolition. The Heritage assessment considered the relationship between the annexe, the historic school and the existing boundary walls enclosing three sides of the development site.
Our assessment demonstrated how the annexe could be accommodated without harm to historic fabric, with scale and massing sympathetic to the school. The project illustrates how heritage advice can support new development within the constrained setting of a listed building.
