Futureproofed Schools must be back on the curriculum
‘School’s out for summer’ is the song lyric, which is music to many pupils’ ears at this time of year, as they get ready for a few months of relaxation. Yet, with the £45 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme set to rebuild 3,500 secondary schools by 2020 and numerous PFI projects underway there is no time for the construction industry to rest.
Government commitment to upgrading schools and providing better learning facilities for future generations is clearly a step in the right direction. However, as we face the prospect of the number of days with outside temperatures in excess of 25oC doubling by 2040, and tripling by 2080, it is vital that new schools are designed to deal with future climatic conditions.
The Education and Skills Select Committee, an influential cross-party group of MPs has recently highlighted that the BSF scheme may have failed to set an example on green construction methods. With only £150 million from the £45 billion budget set aside to improve environmental standards, a number of MPs argue that green design principles have been left as an afterthought.
Whilst it is true that a small number of local authorities in the UK are leading by example with newly built low energy school buildings, this major financial imbalance, coupled with current carbon emissions statistics, does bring serious cause for concern.
Critically, schools account for around 15 per cent of the UK public sector’s carbon footprint. Therefore, ‘future proofing’ schools to withstand changes in climate whist ensuring they use significantly less energy is vital. In order to achieve this aim, planning is required at the initial design stage of a build, when the energy characteristics and performance of the school are determined. Failure to seize this window of opportunity in the early stages of construction inevitably means that the most energy efficient technologies will not be included.
Recently, a number of contractors have stated that they are keen to build schools with low energy design, but feared the associated costs would mean they would lose out to rivals during the tendering stage. Figures quoted by the Sustainable Development Commission suggest that it is typically a further 15 or 20 per cent to the cost of new schools to ensure they are more energy efficient. This need not be the case and there are good examples of sustainable school buildings that didn’t increase the capital budget. However, when there is pressure to reduce project costs, it is increasingly important that environmental design features are not sacrificed for short-term reasons.
Value for money for both schools and local authorities is important but an acceptance of what energy efficient technologies cost is also required. While capital costs will always be central to specification decisions, it is now vitally important that we calculate and make decisions using the projected running costs over the lifetime of the school, which is typically between 50 and 70 years.
It is also important that specification decisions are practical and appropriate. At first, naturally ventilated school buildings might be seen as a low energy solution compared to ventilation systems that work together with the high thermal mass of concrete cored buildings. Unfortunately, noise and air pollution coupled with hotter summers along mean that opening the window is often simply not an option anymore – the air coming in is often as hot as the air inside the building.
Air conditioning can achieve cooling but can have a damaging impact on the environment and consume large amounts of energy. TermoDeck is a heating and cooling system, which offers a viable alternative to both natural ventilation and potentially inefficient air conditioning.
The system works by exploiting the high thermal mass of structural, hollowcore concrete slabs to control and regulate internal temperatures and distribute warmed or cooled fresh air through a building. The supply air passes through the hollowcore at low velocities allowing prolonged contact between the air and the slabs. In turn, this enables the concrete to behave as a passive heat exchange element that releases heat to, or absorbs heat from, the air in the slabs.
In a well-insulated, airtight concrete building, which has good heat recovery, TermoDeck can successfully utilise the thermal mass of concrete to produce an efficient environmental system. Importantly, the system also delivers 100 per cent fresh air with a reliability that natural ventilation cannot offer, providing an indoor atmosphere that is quiet, fresh and keeps students and teachers alert.
Today’s major building programme for new schools is our single opportunity to significantly reduce school carbon emissions, whilst providing new comfortable, state-of-the-art environments for learning. Schools must no longer be seen as short-term solutions to replace outmoded buildings or temporary classrooms, but as buildings that can provide excellent facilities now, and into the future.
By Geoff Russell Smith, general manager for Tarmac TermoDeck
4 December 2007
