Repurposing school sites in Hackney for the community

Interested groups and organisations are being invited to set out their plans for the former Colvestone Primary School – which has been empty since the school closed in summer 2024 – with proposals that have a positive benefit for the local community particularly encouraged.

Plans could include the school remaining as an educational facility, but also alternative uses such as the arts, leisure or social enterprise. Interested organisations will need to ensure any proposals are sustainable and financially viable.

Colvestone is one of four school sites left empty last summer after a significant fall in pupil numbers led to decisions to close and merge some primary schools. Since then, Hackney Council has been reviewing potential alternative uses that take into account the needs of the borough, and developing initial proposals for the four schools:

• Colvestone Primary School (Dalston) – the preferred option proposed for the Colvestone site is for it to be leased to an organisation with a sustainable plan for the facility, experience in community engagement and offering social value. This could be a single organisation or group, and the local community is particularly encouraged to express their interest, with proposals that will provide services, amenities and facilities that are of benefit to the local area and its communities.
  
  
• Baden Powell Primary School (Hackney Downs) – is proposed to be adapted to become a special school and host extra school places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).The Baden Powell site will be an expansion of Ickburgh School and will serve autistic children with severe learning difficulties. This will help meet the growing need within the borough, giving more children access to the support they need closer to home.
  
  
• Randal Cremer Primary School (Hoxton) – exploring the potential to be converted into temporary accommodation for local people in need of a home, helping alleviate the homelessness crisis and keeping families in the borough.
  
  
• De Beauvoir Primary School (Dalston) – exploring the potential to be converted into temporary accommodation for local people in need of a home, helping alleviate the homelessness crisis and keeping families in the borough.

Caroline Woodley, Mayor of Hackney, said: “Like many other boroughs in inner London, Hackney has seen a rapid fall in the number of children attending local primary schools, and having to close these schools as a result has been incredibly tough – for the pupils and their families, for teachers and school staff, some of whom had also been pupils at the schools, and for the wider communities in which they had previously played such an important role.

“We cannot let these buildings sit empty or simply offload them to the highest bidder, but have a duty to ensure they remain important public assets that benefit our communities. That’s why we’re bringing forward plans that not only bring these spaces back into use, but also tackle some of the most difficult issues we face.

“We’re putting forward a range of proposals that will help to provide specialist SEND education,support families in critical housing needs, and engage local communities.

“While there is work to do to deliver on these plans, we’re committed to keeping the communities who are invested in the future of these buildings informed and involved, starting by encouraging organisations to put forward proposals for Colvestone Primary School.”

Delivering on these proposals is subject to various factors including finances, planning permission, and where needed government approval to change educational facilities to alternative uses.  

A similar approach will follow for four further schools that will close in summer 2025 following declining pupil numbers.

Find out more and express an interest in Colvestone Primary.