The Fern Café is the next major project in QE’s estates strategy and is a part of our long-term vision for the very large Fern Building, originally opened in 1974. Located in the heart of the School, the Fern Café will significantly expand dining facilities at Queen’s Road.
Likely to include a food servery as well as formal and informal seating areas, the café will additionally provide QE with a new venue suitable for hosting smaller events. It will be constructed in an area linking Fern with Main Building that is currently used as a corridor and locker station. The café will be connected directly to the Shearly Hall. Its construction will require significant enabling works to be completed on both the Fern and Main Buildings.
The architect’s drawings below give three different views of how the café could look. The modern, light design includes both low-level wooden ceilings and a multi-storey atrium area. Similar to the existing Café 1573 and Dining Hall, there is bold wall decoration based on paintings of the School’s founder, Elizabeth I, and of another figure key to QE’s history, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The design also gives a nod to older architectural features at the School, such as the ceramic wall tiles so characteristic of the historic Main Building.
This project, which is being supported by the FQE charity, will only be possible with substantial support from parents, alumni and other friends of the School.
Come back to this page for regular updates on the Fern Café project.
- Click on the thumbnails below to view the images.
