Excelsior Academy was a new build partnering project completed in August 2008.
The 1900 pupil school replaced the Westgate Community College on a new site in the west end of Newcastle.
The innovative design over four levels is a reaction to the steeply sloping site. The Academy is built onto a steeply sloping south facing site which allows access from external ground floor on three of the levels.
The structure of the school is based around a American model system of creating schools within schools, to reduce the number of pupils to a more intimate scale and for the benefit of individual specialisms for each school identity.
Separate specialist teaching contains science, art, food technology, multi materials and graphics departments. The design meets the new Part L requirements by maximising passive ventilation, and the investigation of alternative heat sources.
The Project was winner of the Construction Collaborative working award 2009.