Environmental sustainability was the driving force behind the new Hadley Learning Community. Tracy Edwards takes a lesson in green design.
If you still think your school days were the best of your life, here’s your big chance to relive the feeling.
From above, it may look like the plans for some strange lunar colony, but Telford’s Hadley Learning Community is actually the first UK project of its kind to combine primary, secondary and special needs schools with a range of services for the community as a whole.
The £65 million project, designed by Faber Maunsell and AEDAS Architects, was procured through a PFI contract between the Borough of Telford and Wrekin and main contractor Interserve Project Services, and became fully operational in January 2007.
Interserve Engineering Services, Interserve’s m&e division, installed a variety of environmentally sustainable solutions throughout the complex, including a biomass boiler, rainwater harvesters to serve the garden areas and toilets and an automated window operating system to provide natural ventilation.
The ambitious project comprises a primary school for 420 children, a secondary school for 1200, a school for 150 pupils with learning difficulties and a 50-place early education facility, along with a library, sports and leisure centre and arts centre.
The site originally housed an infant and junior school, both of which were due for extensive refurbishment within the next 10-15 years.
A mixture of single and two-storey blocks provide 30 000 m2 of floor space. Each integrated structure radiates from an open-space hub, which has a diameter of 100 m and includes a 150-seat performance space. The effect is somewhat reminiscent of the spokes on a bicycle.
Modern 3D modelling techniques were invaluable to the Faber Maunsell team during the design stage.
Will Pitt, project engineer for Faber Maunsell, is enthusiastic about the broad application of green solutions throughout the project: “Using low carbon technologies on this kind of scale has given us the experience to carry these techniques forward, not only onto other schools, but onto various large projects in the future.”
The innovative design is set to form the basis of similar projects across the country.
Heating
The school has approximately 2 MW of installed heating capacity within a centralised plant room split over two levels. The upper level contains high efficiency gas-fired condensing boilers that serve underfloor heating throughout the building at flow and return temperatures of 40°C and 50°C.
The lower level contains high efficiency gas-fired condensing boilers and a 320 kW biomass boiler, which together serve the constant temperature LTHW requirements of the building.
To maximise efficiency and environmental benefits, the biomass boiler is sized to provide the year-round base heating load of the domestic hot water and the swimming pool. The boiler is fuelled by wood chip which is locally sourced from a short rotation coppice plantation and delivered to an on-site storage bunker by a tracker/trailer combination.
Rainwater harvesting
Rainwater from the rooftops is collected and stored in four 50 000 litre collection tanks so it can be re-used for flushing toilets and irrigating the surrounding garden spaces.
Collection tanks of this type are typically positioned on roofs, but this presented challenges for m&e due to the sheer scale of the project and the unusually large dimensions of the required containers. Consequently, the team deviated from their original plans and opted for underground water storage.
Ventilation
The building is provided with a sophisticated automated window opening system which provides natural ventilation to the majority of teaching spaces, with split system air conditioning providing comfort cooling to IT suites and areas of high casual heat gain.
To prevent overheating in summer months, the building is provided with night-time cooling via the automated ventilation system. By controlling the opening of high and low level vents, fresh air purges the building and is absorbed by exposed soffits within teaching spaces which maximise thermal mass and release cool air back into the room throughout the following day.
Ventilation provisions were designed to comply with the Building Bulletin 101, a design guide for schools which specifies required CO2 performance standards and is cited under Part F of the Building Regulations.
Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
