Two schools planned for carbon-negative London park

Two schools in north London are to be relocated to a carbon-negative community park designed by Peynore & Prasad.

The £14m project to transform an unkempt piece of land in Islington into a carbon-negative development has now been granted planning permission. New buildings for Ashmount primary school and Bowlers nursery will be set within the development, which will also include a refurbished youth centre.

Carbon-negative status will be achieved through minimising energy consumption, the use of on-site renewables and a gas fired CHP plant to provide heat and power to the buildings on site and to neighbouring, existing housing blocks.

A combination of passive design strategies, use of brown roofs, reuse of existing facilities, specification of recycled materials and consideration of long term biodiversity are also intended to help the scheme achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating.

The project has been awarded £0.5m through the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) Low and Zero Carbon Schools Pilot and Exemplar Projects initiative. The scheme is expected to start onsite next year and be completed in September 2011.