Bablake School is a co-educational independent school in Coventry. Founded in 1344 by Isabella of France, widow of Edward II, it is one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. When it was time for Bablake to refurbish the school library, the school leadership team approached a number of potential partners.

After consideration, the team selected a school fit out partner that had put forward an ambitious proposal to add a mezzanine floor into the existing library in order to create more usable space. On paper, this solution seemed ideal. As the project start date approached however, the reality of adding another floor was brought into question.

Not only was the addition of a mezzanine floor very expensive, but it emerged that the ceiling height would be very low on both the ground floor and the new upper floor – inevitably making the space darker and more constricted.

It was at this point, that TaskSpace was invited to take over the project. The first thing that became apparent to our design team was that the space did not require a mezzanine floor at all, and that with clever space planning, the library would work perfectly – without any major building work.

The colour palette for the new library is predominantly white. This makes the space feel larger and helps to highlight the feature archways which link the various zones together. Clever space planning has significantly increased the amount of usable space and helped create a light, bright, airy space which is a delight to spend time in.

Bablake is a historic school with a pedigree stretching back hundreds of years. In such a traditional setting, it was crucial that the new library design complemented the existing building, whilst introducing a contemporary edge that would inspire the school’s pupils.

The introduction of our ‘TaskPod’ Collaboration Booths (above) has proven to be a huge hit with the pupils, with students now making a habit of getting to school early in order to secure a space in one!

Despite TaskSpace being appointed late in the project’s lifecycle, we were delighted to complete the project in a more economical way, before the agreed deadline.