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Passivhaus school breaks air tightness records |
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29 Oct 2012, 5:31 PM
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A school for 630 pupils completed in Leeds, has not only achieved Passivhaus certification, but has smashed the air tightness target of the Passivhaus Institute. Richmond Hill Primary School, built on behalf of Leeds City Council, will use up to 80% less energy than a conventional school.
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By paying close attention to creating an air-tight and well insulated building envelope, carbon emissions can be reduced by 60 per cent without the use of renewable energy. The new school is being built by Interserve, an international support services and construction group
The new school was given a Passivhaus air tightness target of 0.6 ACH (Air Changes Per Hour), which means the building must not leak more than 0.6 times its volume of air per hour at 50 pascals. This level of air tightness is well over ten times better than the current building regulations’ requirement of 10m3/m2/hour at 50 pascals. However, tests have revealed the school has achieved an enormously impressive 0.25 ACH, which is just 1/20 of the ACH level required by British Building Regulations.
Superb levels of insulation, coupled with a highly efficient mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) system have all contributed to the building achieving its Passivhaus certification.
Helping to achieve superior levels of thermal insulation is Interserve’s solution for the eradication of cold bridging between the building’s piled foundations and steelwork frame, using high-strength insulation normally used in industrial process plant installations.
The walls and roof of Richmond Hill School achieve excellent thermal insulation performance, with U-Values far exceeding the requirements of the current building regulations. Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) manufactured off-site featuring polyurethane insulation have been used to form the structural fabric of the walls, and further SIPs panels with extra mineral wool insulation form the roof of the new building. The materials enable an impressive U-Value of 0.1W/m2K to be achieved for the walls.
Triple glazed timber windows, certified by the Passivhaus Institute, facilitate excellent standards of thermal insulation, whilst also helping to keep air leakage to a minimum. The specific heat demand of the building is 11kWh/m2/year (well under the target of 15kWh/m2/year) and the Primary Energy Demand is 112kWh/m2/year (again, well below the target set of 120 kWh/m2/year); therefore the school will benefit from lower energy costs.
The school also features a twenty-six place nursery and an integral sixteen-place Autistic Spectrum Condition facility.
Commenting on the build, the school’s Chair of Governors, Tommy Hall, said:
“Throughout the development of the new build, ‘our builders’ have been outstandingly kind, considerate and professional. From development to the finish they have communicated and taken on board ideas and discussions. Our head teacher has nothing but praise for the team and stresses to the Governors that what could have been a difficult couple of years has been a delightful experience in working with the Interserve team.”
Richmond Hill Primary School is the third non-domestic Passivhaus-certified building constructed by the company, and is thought to be the largest Passivhaus-certified building in the UK. Swillington Primary School, one of these Passivhaus schemes, is also located in Leeds, and has also recently been completed in partnership with Leeds City Council. Richmond Hill Primary School has recently won the Yorkshire and Humberside Constructing Excellence Innovation Award.
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| Positive review of this story |
Jack Graham  |
11 Apr 2013, 7:19 AM |
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Take it up with whoever signed off the drawings The school has limited funding, consideration must be given to this. Everything costs money and unfortunately some things take priority over others. Sensory areas are great ideas, great places, however it all costs money. Perhaps the school have plans to do this at a later stage? You should be happy with the new build as it is and not want more all the time. You have got a fantastic brand new state of the art school with tax payers money and you are still not happy. Just be satisfied that you are not in a 1960's building with singled glazed windows and asbestos everywhere.
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| Negative Review of this story |
Adele Beeson  |
30 Oct 2012, 11:14 AM |
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But is it a good learning environment? All this is excellent but I am not impressed with the new build schools in terms of the actual quality of the learning environment for children, especially children with additional needs in the sensory areas. The first priority should be to enable all children to learn effectively - most of these schools have unsuitable lighting for ASC children, and they do not have quiet spaces for individual learning and respite for children who get overwhelmed by environmental factors such as noise and bustle; they meet the regulations but not the needs of our children. Award winning buildings so often miss the point of what the building is actually supposed to do and modern schools are prime examples of this.
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