Skippers, a new music and performing arts facility at The Dragon School  in Oxford

Main contractor - Kingerlee Construction

Roofing Contractor - Bicester Roofing

Architect - MICA Architects

Photography  courtesy of Kingerlee Construction

Roof tiles : Staffordshire red Rustic tiles 

The new Skippers Music School in Oxford provides a dedicated home for musical education, performance and community life. Designed to sit comfortably within the site’s historic setting while delivering state‑of‑the‑art facilities, the building pairs contemporary architecture with a warm, tactile palette of brick, clay tile and zinc.

An L‑shaped brick block wraps around a sheltered garden court designed for outdoor performances, creating a calm, collegiate heart to the scheme. Above, a distinctive double‑pitched clay roof balances heritage sensitivity with the acoustic performance required for specialist music spaces.

To complement the mass and tone of the brickwork, MICA Architects specified Dreadnought Red Rustic tiles. Their single‑camber profile reinforces the building’s crisp contemporary form, while their sanded texture and warm tonal variation bring depth and movement to the roofscape. Within the city’s conservation area, this natural variation ensures the building feels rooted in its context, responding beautifully to changing light throughout the day.

The centre incorporates a suite of low‑energy design strategies including air‑source heating, photovoltaic arrays and predominantly natural ventilation to provide a comfortable, efficient and future‑proof learning environment.

The result is a building that feels both fresh and familiar. As bursar Martin Johnson notes, “Testament to its seamless integration into the campus is the fact that many have commented that it looks like it has always belonged there.”