On Friday the 7th of September the Duke of Gloucester opened the long awaited new science block for Oundle School.

For the past year and a half, Oundle residents have watched the cranes towering over the building site and have seen the walls slowly, but surely rise with a mixture of anticipation and perhaps apprehension. Now the SciTec Complex, which comprises 16 chemistry and biology laboratories, an observatory and an exhibition space, is completed. Certainly the first students to be using the building this year are not disappointed with it: “The block has been completely modernised and all of the science students are impressed with the design,” says Head Girl Emily Mitchell, 18.

Former pupil and Sony Corporation chief executive officer Sir Howard Stringer backed Oundle’s commitment to science with his $1m donation, as did the school’s Governing Body, the Grocer’s Company with £3m.

The building was designed by Feildon Clegg Bradley Architects and constructed using concrete, aluminium, glass, European oak and local stone cladding. It incorporates a sedum roof, solar thermal panels to provide hot water and passive infra-red detectors to control the energy used for lighting. A 50sqm lake has also been created to provide a grey-water facility as well as a habitat for flora and fauna.

Nationally, fewer pupils and undergraduates are studying science and fewer science graduates are going on to teach the subject. Oundle’s decision to build SciTec is partly a bold attack on the declining interest and enthusiasm for science.

Head Charles Bush said: “We want to change this situation by making science more alluring to pupils. Our key concern is to enthuse pupils’ learning in the areas of science, engineering and technology with the view to reversing the declining interest in pure and applied sciences. SciTec makes the clearest possible statement that Oundle is fighting this trend.”