A school building in Lambeth has been hailed as a great example of how to refurbish historical buildings and make them fit for modern education.

The Elm Court School in Brixton Hill is now housed in the Edwardian building which was once the Strand Grammar School.

The building, brought back to life through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme was identified by English Heritage as a exemplar of the "constructive conservation" they advocate to bring old buildings back into use.

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The Elm Court School opened on the new site in March 2008, breathing new life into a local landmark. Through careful planning and early involvement of conservation staff, the project team were able to remodel the school building to make it suit the needs of the Specal Educational Needs school it was to house.

The new building is highly energy efficient partly due to the refurbishment but also in part to the high thermal mass of original Edwardian structure.

The Elm Court School also recently won the 'Best Design for a Remodelled School' award at the Excellence in BSF 2009 awards and Lambeth was named BSF Local Authority of the Year.

(CD/GK)