Architype
Architype schools prove performance in nationwide study
By Christian Dimbleby
In a study commissioned by government organisation, Innovate UK, two of Architype’s school projects have been compared in a nationwide selection of non-domestic buildings. The purpose has been to demonstrate which strategies in design and construction work the best, and which pitfalls should be avoided to meet the performance targets that have been set.
The report has recently been completed and released, and the results have been especially favourable for Architype, with our two schools ranking amongst the best in the study group.
The two projects studied included Bessemer Grange Primary School extension and refurbishment of the 1950s existing building, and Staunton on Wye Primary School; both of which were rigorously analysed post completion.
The two-year studies looked at energy consumption, temperature and humidity monitoring, as well as user satisfaction surveys, forensic walkthroughs and investigation into technical and user issues in order to provide specific and industry wide lessons learned.
The graph above (extract of Fig 1, p20) shows that Architype buildings in-use energy consumption were in the lowest band of combined energy usage per m2, per year of all the non-domestic buildings studied.
Staunton-on-Wye Primary School:
“It is the lowest-emission building in the BPE, at only 13.8 kg CO2/m2/year.”
“The school added PV panels later and improved its already very good performance (exporting 4.1 kWh/m2, and saving 2.2 kgCO2/m2).”
“The classrooms are so well insulated that the head teacher has reduced the heating hours from 8.30am to 11am and the building stays warm the rest of the day.”
The study shows Staunton-on-Wye to be one of the success stories of the study with electricity and fuel use both below 30 kWh/m2. More can be information about the projects success can be found on Pg30 of the report.
Bessemer Grange Primary School:
“The new building had high environmental ambitions and scored in the top 5% for user satisfaction with comfort and performance.”
Bessemer Grange provides a really useful insight in how to expand existing buildings, and how good design can improve user satisfaction. Lessons were also learnt about M&E design; avoiding the use of existing services into new extensions and appropriate selection of renewable energy technologies.
The results are outstanding in both cases, achieved simply employing a rigorous approach and low carbon expertise inherent in our practice.
Reports:
The reports are freely available at the following links:
