The Woodward Building

Wednesday 10th November saw the official opening of Halliford School’s new Woodward Building. The building has been named in recognition of our Chair of Governors, Mr Ken Woodward QPM, who has dedicated so much to Halliford over many years. Ken has served as a Governor for over twenty years and has successfully led the School as Chairman for the last twelve years, plus his son attended Halliford School. As we mark our Centenary, the opening of this new building is at the heart of the School’s celebrations.

Headmaster, Mr Davies, led the ceremony with a moving speech about ensuring the best possible facilities for their students. Ken followed by thanking Halliford for the honour of having this wonderful new building named after him. He encouraged the staff and students to use and enjoy this facility which houses a fantastic new Learning Resource Centre on the ground floor, plus six classrooms and offices for the English and History Departments.

Ken unveiled the building’s name plaque at the ceremony attended by the Mayor of Elmbridge, several local school Heads, the School Governors, and local friends of the School and Old Hallifordians. He then cut the ribbon and officially opened the building, inviting guests to see the new build for themselves. Guests enjoyed refreshments prepared by their in-house catering team and had a chance to tour the new space, which will soon be bustling with students.

The Headmaster was keen to avoid disruption to the local neighbours caused by the build and therefore opted for a modular building which also has the advantage that the construction process is much shorter thanks to the expertise of our construction specialists, The Darwin Group. Work commenced in May, with the delivery of 27 pre-built modules, and the building was completed in just 21 weeks. The eye-catching exterior of the new build was designed with numerous windows on each storey, creating a space flooded with natural light and a spacious learning environment for the students and staff of 805 sq m.

James Davies, Headmaster at Halliford School, said, “The Woodward Building offers state-of-the-art modern facilities for our students and provides exciting, stimulating spaces for them to work both independently and collaboratively with our new Learning Resource Centre at the heart of the school site. I am particularly proud that we have also managed to create a completely sustainable carbon-neutral building with the roof space home to a vast solar array. Our students will be able to learn more about this technology with the interactive display in the building showing our energy production and consumption. My thanks go to all involved with the design and construction of this impressive project, especially as most of the work took place during the pandemic. We very much look forward to welcoming members of the community to see the new development and cannot wait to see our students enjoying this magnificent new space.”

The build progress is documented below.

FROM DAY 3 – 12th May 2021

We had the pleasure of welcoming our Governors to school today for our Groundbreaking Ceremony as Mr Ken Woodward, our Chair of Governors, and his wife, marked the first day of construction of our new Woodward Building. They joined us for tea and cake afterwards accompanied by our Deputy Chairman, Mr Colin Squire and Mr Mike Crosby.

TO DAY 15 – 2nd June 2021

Day 15 of our build sees Darwin Group starting the installation of 27 modules to create our new Woodward Building.

TO THE OPENING CEREMONY – 10th November 2021

THE OPENING CEREMONY & TIME-LAPSE VIDEO