Accommodation Blocks- Boarding Accommodation Design Details​

 

The scheme comprises two principal boarding accommodation blocks, each configured for 20 bedrooms on two floors, a flexible model for 20–40 bed boarding houses used widely across UK independent schools.​

 

Each block includes dedicated housemaster/housemistress accommodation to ensure pastoral supervision and compliant on-site staff facilities, a vital requirement for any boarding house design UK seeking best practice in safeguarding and pastoral care.​

 

Design highlights: clear circulation for supervision, secure access control, acoustic separation between study and social zones, all essential elements for boarding school accommodation.

 

​Communal Spaces - Social & Pastoral Design

 

• Dual-level common rooms on ground and first floor encourage inter-year social mixing and provide supervised social learning spaces. These communal areas are designed to be safe, visually open, and adaptable, meeting the needs of modern boarding life and supporting wellbeing.

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• Communal room features: informal study corners, supervised dining/servery adjacency, quiet lounges for homework and pastoral meetings

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• External Courtyard- South-facing Landscaped Quad: A south-facing landscaped courtyard forms the social heart of the boarding house, intentionally designed for outdoor study, informal gatherings and structured pastoral activity.

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• Bedroom Design- Privacy, Light & Study: Projecting bay windows articulate the external façade and provide integrated window seats and dedicated study nooks- a compact, high-value approach to student bedroom design that increases daylight, privacy and occupant wellbeing.

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• Bedrooms are configured for sufficient storage, rigour in acoustic performance, and adaptable furniture for longer-term lifecycle management.

 

Technical & Compliance Highlights

 

Designed to meet DfE guidance, safeguarding best practice and independent school boarding standards.

 

Passive-first environmental strategy: daylight optimisation, natural ventilation strategies and low-embodied carbon material selection.

 

Pastoral-first layout with direct visual lines to supervision hubs and secure external access for student safety.

 

Outcome & Value Signals

 

This boarding house prototype demonstrates how targeted boarding accommodation design achieves recruitment advantage, improves pastoral care and meets parental expectations for UK independent schools. As education and boarding house architects, Grayling Thomas deliver designs that are compliant, co-educational ready, sustainable and marketable

 

If your independent school is planning boarding expansion, refurbishment or a co-education transition, contact Grayling Thomas Architects, specialist boarding house architects for UK independent schools. We deliver feasibility, planning, design and compliance support for boarding accommodation projects from 20 to 200+ beds.