Ipswich Grammar School engaged GB-Landscape in partnership with Williams Architects after recognising the need to modernise their heritage significant Great Hall and the surrounding landscape to support the evolving needs of their students and the community. The Great Hall Enhancement project was carefully executed through extensive design development and stakeholder and school community consultation, and underpinned by the core principles of Recognition, Restoration, and Reclamation.

These core principles were implemented through the recognition of the schools rich cultural and architectural history, the restoration of civic and school pride through a unified ground plane of timeless materials befitting this history, and the reclamation of the school’s outdoor realm and internal building works by enhancing the visual and physical connection in quality, human-scale spaces.

The design resulted in a flexible space, allowing learning support, outdoor education, student relaxation and play, as well as a formal public realm to the heritage site. The enhanced landscape features, including new seating terraces and garden style settings, have been designed to increase social and cultural interactions for the students, promoting it as a dynamic social and learning landscape.