We Yone Primary School, Sierra Leone

Incremental Primary School

We were appointed to design and project manage the delivery of this primary school. We developed the brief with the client which was to include 8 classrooms, an office, a library, 9 WCs, 4 shops and 3 store rooms.

The focus of the charity was to provide as much educational space as possible, hence the ‘incremental approach’ to fitting out internal finishes and fixtures as funds became available.

The Story of We Yone Primary School

Sourcing materials and labour locally was a key requirement of the client’s sustainability and charitable agenda. As a result, we invested time and energy in training local builders, teaching them to produce rammed earth blocks with earth taken from the site as an alternative to using concrete blocks which are made from imported sand and cement. Because there is no road to the school, all materials were carried on head down the steep slope from the road over a km away.

To help bring some sustainable income to the school, we built into the brief the setting up of two micro-businesses using existing resources, so the four small commercial spaces at the front of the school are for rent, and (having bought a press to make them) the rammed earth blocks are now for sale.

The Design Process – Incremental