New neighbours come to a school's rescue

It's a familiar story: developer turns run-down inner-city building into luxury flats. But, says Mary Wilson, the result need not alienate existing residents

Property developers are often accused of meta-phorically raping and pillaging local amenities, a school's playing field, the only petrol station for miles, open ground used by the community, a historic house which is turned into flats.

But a good number actually do all they can to involve local residents in their schemes, taking time to ascertain their feelings through public consultation meetings and trying to produce a development agreeable to all. In some cases, they will radically change their original plans to incorporate the outcome of these meetings.

When the Thornsett Group plc, an Irish development company, came across the disused Initial Cleaning factory in London's Clerkenwell in 1999, it had no idea it would end up working closely with the school next door and incorporating a state-of-the-art doctor's surgery in the building.

"When I identified the site, it was an empty run-down old warehouse, but it had possibilities," Gerard Cunningham, managing director of Thornsett, says. "It was not on the market, so I approached the owners, who said they might be interested if the deal was right.

"Thornsett has a policy of knocking on doors before it steps in to develop a building and this is what I did here. While I was making informal approaches to the Islington planning office to see what sort of development they would consider, I went to the Clerkenwell Parochial school, which borders two sides of the site.

"The headteacher asked me to come in and talk about it. There was a board of governors' meeting that evening, which I said I would attend. He told me the school hadn't sufficient space for student numbers required and, because the school was a listed building, built in 1828 and among the oldest purpose-built ones in central London, it couldn't be extended. The only place to go was next door – our site – and he wondered if we could accommodate the school in our plans."

At the governors' meeting, Mr Cunningham was told they were very keen to keep the school running, and there was a real threat it could close. "We had a discussion about local requirements and I thought I would be asked to provide affordable housing as a condition of our redevelopment plans. Could we exchange this for the school provision, I wondered."

With the support of the headteacher, the governors and tremendous backing from local residents, they eventually got permission. The next figure in the equation was the nearby Amwell Street Medical Practice. The partners asked Mr Cunningham if he could incorporate a surgery. The Camden and Islington Primary Health Trust checked the space and, with their help, a splendid medical centre has been designed into the plan, including cupboards in germ-resistant materials and a special storage system on a mezzanine floor to take all the patients' records.

"This will become a primary health care centre for the area and a benchmark for the NHS," Mr Cunningham says. There will be four doctors' consulting rooms, two nurses' rooms, a children's waiting room, space for complementary medical disciplines and disability requirements from the deaf, the blind and disabled will be catered for.

The school has gained extra classrooms, storage and better outside space. "Thornsett has been sympathetic to the school's needs," Charles Morris, the headteacher who joined in 2001, says. "It's a charming, antiquated building, but it was suffocating and constricting. Now, for the first time in 180 years, the school has enough space."

It also has better security, with a new entrance where the original 19th-century one was on Amwell Street, and modern facilities. With 210 pupils – 90 infants and 120 juniors – the children were crammed into small rooms, with little storage space for equipment. By expanding into the new building, they have gained two large, airy classrooms, a small kitchen and a "group" room, and space in the old building has been freed for offices and a dining room.

Two weeks ago, 60 pupils moved into the new Reception and Year 1 classrooms. Barbara Nhah, the deputy headteacher, says: "Before, we had no running water in any classroom, which is essential for young children. Now we have big sinks with draining boards in each classroom." Coats and bags can be hung in the two new cloakrooms, and there is a new disabled adult loo, plus four loos and basins for younger children.

Thornsett has also sponsored the school football team, paid for rental of a pitch, is paying to relandscape the Grade II-listed garden which has three 200-year-old fig trees, and will also improve the playground.

"They are going to resurface it and build a climbing frame for us," Mr Morris says. Over the new classrooms, there is also a small decked area reached by a spiral staircase. This will be used by children, not wanting to join in the rough and tumble of the playground, as a quiet area.

The development, called WestCityOne, is on the corner of Margery Street and Amwell Street and will have 38 apartments plus four penthouses on the seventh floor. These will have fabulous views of St Pancras station, St Paul's, Canary Wharf and the London Eye. Beneath the apartments, along with the classrooms and surgery, there will be two other offices, plus underground parking.

The apartments are very high-spec, with walnut and maple doors, five-burner gas hobs in the fitted kitchens, glass block tiles to allow extra light through three internal light wells, cleverly designed bathrooms to make best use of space, and the wall between the living room and second bedroom folds back to make one larger room.

Prices for the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments of varying sizes range from £345,000 to £375,000 with the largest penthouse going for £1.2m (FPDSavills, 020 7472 5025 and Currell 020 7336 6666)