Holmlea Primary School closed its doors in 2004 and laid dormant for many years until eventually being bought by the housing association and charity, Home Group.

They planned to repurpose both the original school building and janitor’s house, and incorporate much needed affordable housing in the area. Consideration was taken to integrate new apartments with the historic, grade B listed school building and prominent features such as the school entrance, railings, balustrades were all carefully salvaged to preserve the history of the building.

Works began internally to restore the school's interior and there was a requirement to incorporate seating and planters into the internal halls to create a relaxing social environment for students that still blended in with the aesthetics.

Furnitubes' RailRoad seating with edge supports and integrated planters from the modular solutions range were selected by Home Group but materials for the products needed to be adapted In order to comply with the fire safety regulations within the school building.

Their solution was to replace the standard Iroko timbers, a West-African timber rich in natural oils, with Oak which is a less dense and oily timber. The Oak timbers were coated with a thick layer of Zeroflame Fire Retardant Treatment to comply with the fire safety standard requirement.

The combined RailRoad planters and seating provides a relaxed spaces for students between classes and a welcome modern contrast in the newly restored listed building.