A SCHOOL sports hall in the centre of Oxford, which has won an architectural award for its design, has tipped a wink to tradition, featuring a gargoyle of a long-serving teacher.

New College School’s sports hall, in Savile Road, was given a plaque – the top honour – at the Oxford Preservation Trust’s 32nd annual environmental awards ceremony on Tuesday.

One special feature of the brick and stone building, designed by TSH Architects, of Hinksey Hill, is a stone caricature of the school’s music director, Edward Higginbottom, which was sculpted by his daughter Eliza.

Mr Higginbottom is the conductor of the school’s boys’ choir, which last month performed in front of world leaders in Poland at commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War.

He has worked at the school since 1976.

The 62-year-old, whose head was measured and cast, before being immortalised in stone, said: “It was a bit of a surprise. I thought I might be worried about the caricature – then I thought, ‘why not?’.

“My daughter did it, so I guess she was rather gentle in that respect.

“The gargoyle glimpses the school office below, so I hope it doesn’t appear as though I’m looking down like a CCTV camera.

“There are certainly no lenses in the eyes.”

The sculpture took weeks of preparation in clay before being carved in stone over a period of two months.

It was then fixed to the side of the sports hall, which opened last year and also houses art and music rooms on the first floor.

Mr Higginbottom, who said he would “definitely retire before reaching 100”, added: “I think I was chosen because I’ve been around so long. It’s a long-service medal.”

Miss Higginbottom, 29, who is a professional artist, said: “It was pretty funny and a bit stressful, because I had mum telling me to make him look really handsome but I was saying it’s a grotesque, so I had lots of people’s views.

“It was really exciting to think it will be there for years and that it’s part of this Oxford tradition, but that made every stroke of the mallet quite tense.”

Jon Malik, of the preservation trust, said: “The panel was very pleased with the building – they thought it was fantastic.”