Queen Elizabeth Hall

SOLID is excited to showcase these stunning images of Queen Elizabeth Hall at Shrewsbury School, as students settle in at the start of the school year. The new boarding house, situated on the edge of the iconic campus, boasts panoramic views toward Shrewsbury’s town centre and sits alongside ‘Hodgson Hall’, an academic teaching block.

The project was designed by Adrian James Architects, who also designed the adjacent Hodgson Hall. Queen Elizabeth Hall’s exterior mirrors the red brick and arched doorways of Hodgson Hall, though on a more domestic scale, and has been created to offer an informal environment where the girls can relax away from their studies. The design includes a combination of Arts and Crafts inspired steep pitched roofs and dormers and the windows are arranged in a chequerboard formation.

Adrian James Architects have been sure to incorporate the stunning views as much as possible by including a double-height moon gate window to the house hall.

SOLID were appointed as Civil and Structural Engineers on the three-storey building and it is fantastic to see it in use. The design presented an array of challenges for the team, particularly the interesting façade.

At first glance, the chequerboard pattern of windows may appear structurally unfeasible, as the alternating floor openings meet, leaving no direct path for the vertical load to transfer down to the ground.

Inside the building, the bedroom partitions are lightweight, allowing for future flexibility in room configurations. This also enables the walls to be offset from one floor to the next, meaning they can be positioned to align with the windows rather than the other way around. The frequent window spacing ensures that all rooms receive natural light, regardless of the layout.

To achieve this internal flexibility, the building uses a steel frame. The challenge posed by the chequerboard fenestration is how to incorporate vertical columns in the external walls. The solution lies in the precast surrounds and central mullions for each glazed opening. These elements are wide enough to accommodate steel columns, which run vertically behind both the edges and the centrelines of the chequerboard panels, maintaining the pattern while ensuring the building's structural integrity.

In practice, the more complex structural issues arose where the rhythmic chequerboard design was interrupted to accommodate internal features such as staircases and arched openings, requiring additional engineering solutions.

Steel beams support the window openings, with curved steel framing used around circular windows. The outer leaf steel is anchored by tucking beneath the adjacent precast window surrounds.

Now complete, the boarding house offers accommodation for 57 boarders, communal areas, study space for day pupils and staff rooms. The layout wraps around a centuries old Cedar tree to create a private garden for the girls.

It was fantastic to work alongside Adrian James Architects, Pave Aways Building Contactors, Virtus Consult, Bennett Williams and TM Brooks Ltd on this beautiful project.

If you are planning your own education project, why not contact the SOLID team to see how we can help you bring your dreams to fruition.