St Paul's School

St Paul’s School is one of the most prestigious schools for boys in the UK. Whilst the School is a very old institution, it has moved physical location several times, the last move being to Barnes in Richmond-upon-Thames where the buildings date from 1968. In 2006 the School decided to re-masterplan the School and renew the majority of the buildings and facilities. As part of this the School desired to increase the biodiversity value of the site as far as feasible, in keeping with other essential uses including the provision of extensive permanent sports fields.

We have been the ecological advisors for the regeneration of the School and its grounds and facilities for over a decade. Our advice has covered all ecological aspects of the redesign of the School grounds, as well as the establishment of biodiverse habitats on buildings. We wrote the Estate Management Plan for the School and have continued to advise through the construction phase. We have also provided the services of a ‘Suitably Qualified Ecologist’ for BREEAM at all stages.

We have undertaken ecological monitoring of the School as required for each development phase, surveying for bats, birds and other protected fauna, as well as for plant communities. We have assessed the potential ecological impacts of the proposals progressively and advised on how to design out any significant adverse effects.

Some of our key contributions to the project design have included:

- Developing a novel approach to creating of flower-rich swards in existing amenity grasslands given the key constraints of underground water tanks.
- Advising on planting and seeding selections for all new landscape areas to maximise value to target native faunal species as far as possible within other
design constraints.
- Advising on the ecological design of a biodiverse living roof to a new award-winning Science Block, and of a biosolar biodiverse roof to a new General
Teaching Building, providing opportunities for education and research as well as the many other ecosystem services.
- Developing a comprehensive strategy for progressive installation of artificial refuges for fauna in the grounds and on buildings.