Exemplars Design Team Report foreword - … Design Team Report ... background to the Exemplar...

foreword

Exemplars Design Team Report

This Design Team Report has been prepared by Cottrell

and Vermeulen Architecture as a presentation of their

design team’s scheme for the Exemplar Designs

project commissioned by the Department for Education

and Skills (DfES) in 2003. The project ran from June to

October 2003 and eleven leading design teams

prepared schemes, five for primary schools, five for

secondary schools and one all-through school, all to

the equivalent of the RIBA Plan of Work Stage C,

(Outline Design).

This design team report should be read in conjunction

with the compendium of all of the schemes published

in February 2004 entitled ‘Exemplar Designs – ideas

and concepts’. The compendium sets out the

background to the Exemplar Designs project and, after

explaining the process, draws out a number of

emerging themes from the eleven designs for ‘schools

for the future’. Following the outline of the brief, each of

the schemes is presented as a case study and then a

final section gives pointers to the way forward and

discusses ways the Exemplar Designs might develop

and inform school design for the future.

The design and the cost estimates described in this

Design Team Report were produced on behalf of the

Department by the team led by Cottrell and Vermeulen.

The team have undertaken to develop the core design

to Outline Design for an actual, but unidentified, site.

The design is referenced as (P2) sloping site in the

compendium. The design team was asked to develop

their proposal in response to a detailed brief, focusing

clearly on educational planning and ensuring that the

scheme was capable of meeting all the necessary

Building Regulation requirements.

The Department now owns all intellectual property

rights and copyright to the design. The Department, in

turn has made clear that it wishes to make the design

freely available to any organisation that wishes to use it

in its entirety or any particular ideas or concepts that

come out of it. However, anyone who uses this design,

or ideas contained within it, does so at their own risk

and no liability can be accepted by the DfES or by the

design team for its use. It is expected that any

organisation using the design would take appropriate

steps to assure themselves of the integrity of the

design and that they would be fully responsible for

development and completion of any project that uses

the design. As this design has been completed to

Outline Design it needs to be developed further for a

specific client and site.

Whilst the DfES does not promote these Exemplar

Designs as the only solutions, we do commend them

and the ideas and concepts included in them as ones

that could help in development of appropriate solutions

for your specific needs, and to contribute to the debate

on school design. We have asked all the teams to

subject their designs to a number of focus groups and

organisations with a direct interest in the design and

use of school buildings. Some of these ‘reviews’ have

occurred at the end of the design process and the

teams have not always had an opportunity to fully

respond to the comments. To demonstrate the

development of Exemplar Designs as an ongoing,

dynamic process we have included in a DfES Afterword

at the end of this report a summary of some of these

reviews and, where possible, a response from the

design team or a commentary on how their designs

were developed following the review. The discussion

will continue on the website

www.teachernet.gov.uk/exemplars. The DfES does

not necessarily endorse comments made in the

reviews, many of which may be subjective or derived

from a particular interpretation of earlier versions of this

design team report. However, the comments have

been included in this document in order to assist the

debate and also to highlight aspects of the design that

anyone using it might wish to consider and reassure

themselves on. We are grateful to the design team for

agreeing to allow such close scrutiny of their work.

Schools Building and Design Unit of DfES.

by the Department forEducation and Skills

Exemplar school design solutions. Primary School

Cottrell & Vermeulen ArchitectureMax Fordham LLP - environmentalEngineers Haskins Robinson Waters - structuralStockdale Consulting - costingsJenny Davies - educationNeutral - animationBuro Happold - BREEAMCarl Middleton - manual graphicsTemple Primary School - partner school

Contents

CHAPTER 1 - Design Principles1 Introduction2 Concept3 Flexibility and growth4 Kit of components5 Components6 Building blocks - typologies 1,2 & 3fe7 Growing plan8 Growing classroom9 Buildability10 Flexibility & Adaptability11 Structural12 Environmental

CHAPTER 2 - Core Design - 2 Form Entry PrimarySchool13 Site analysis14 2FE - Core Design - Proposed Site Plan15 2FE - Core Design - proposed Ground Plan16 Spatial Plan17 Security Safety and Fire18 Classroom19 Core design - Elevations20 Elevations21 Sections22 Panorama23 Perspective24 Site sections25 Sketch views26 Areas analysis

CHAPTER 3 - Variations27 Variation - 2FE Site A28 Variation - 2FE Site B29 Variation 2FE Foundation Stage30 Variations31 Community overlap32 Variation - 4FE Site33 Variation - 2FE + Childrens Centre34 Variation - 2FE SEN Inclusive School35 Public Overlap Inclusive School36 Variation - 2FE Sports Centre

CHAPTER 4 - landscape structural environmental costBREEAM prefabrication ICT37 Landscape - 138 Landscape - 239 Structural - 140 Structural - 242 Environmental - acoustics43 Environmental - ventilation44 Environmental - daylighting44 Environmental - heat loss/ gain45 Environmental - sustainability46 BREEAM Variation - 2FE + Childrens Centre47 ICT 48 Prefabrication49 Cost - 150 Cost - 251 Cost - 352 Cost - 4Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture

1b Iliffe Street, London SE17 3LJTel: 0207 7082567www.cottrellandvermeulen.co.uk

Chapter 1 - Design Principles C1

The hall makes the entrance to the school. This accommodates the public and administrative elements ofthe school, and the areas of community use. This building could involve a larger element of 'one-off' designto account for specific school and community functions and use materials and forms appropriate to thelocal context, providing a planning buffer to the street.

Introduction 01

What is the school of the future? A school of the future is a place that is part of its community. It is a

nurturing and challenging environment for all who use it. It is a place

of many different activities, for pupils, teachers and the wider com-

munity. It is a building that is specific to its community and context

and an evolving environment that can respond to change.

A school of the future is sustainable, made by a community using

environmentally responsible materials and processes.

A school of the future is an inspirational landscape for learning,

teaching and play.

Learning at the heart of the school

Project AimsOur aim is to create opportunities for schools, parents and children to

shape their own futures.

Our approach to this project is to combine the potential of community

participation and collaboration, an integrated vision of school and

landscape, and modern construction technologies. Our aim is to cre-

ate a vision for new schools that can be easily understood, appropri-

ate to educators, economic and beautiful.

We have created a process that can be applied generally whilst also

providing tailored solutions. To do this we have conceived the project

as a MANUAL for school design.

It is our belief that in order for school design to flourish it is essential

that the school and the community participate actively in the design

and decision making for the new ideas.

To show this we have introduced to the project the Participation

Manual. This document will explain how to participate and coordinates

the way the client can collaborate within the design process. It covers

the key first stages of the project;: defining the vision and setting the

brief. From this starting point we believe the client can become

empowered, responsible and easily engage with the design of their

school.

Our approach to the design is to create a flexible kit of elements that

can be used to create a variety of educational spaces. Our starting

point is to create a cover-all canopy; a space that allows many differ-

ent types of internal and external educational spaces. Our intention is

not to limit education by a fixed architectural form. Under this we will

propose standard elements: walls, windows, ceilings etc that can be

assembled to create classrooms halls libraries etc. Our aim is to cre-

ate a bespoke standardization; this is not the creation of standard

designs but the use of standard elements to create bespoke designs

for school communitiesParticipation Manual

Concept 02

Landscape

Our aim is to create a palace for learning. Our inspiration comes

from African vernacular settlements that create communities within

a safe boundary. A settlement defined by the space and places within

a landscape.

Our concept is to create a landscape for learning. The idea of land-

scape allows the school to imagine the extent of its boundary and

will provide a foundation for all development.

The landscape creates a framework for different places and environ-

ments and can be used as a tool to design the school. On one level it

can simply orientate the proposals, on another it can generate ideas

for the school.

The landscape is used to create strategies for the site development;

it creates a framework to address security and openness, public and

private, education and play, soft and hard etc

Plan of African palace Concept sketch for landscape proposal

Development skeches

Flexibility and growth 03

Within this setting we will grow a school that can expand and con-

tract. We are proposing to enclose space using canopies that create

secure space but allow easy transition from enclosed to open space.

Our idea is to structure the design process into stages. The land-

scape strategy will define building zones and landscape buffer zones

(gardens, playgrounds, planting etc). Areas of the landscape can be

identified for different use (community, education, recreation etc) as

well as entry points, movement and connections. Within this frame-

work the building components can be introduced.

Our building blocks are simple: they are classrooms, halls, staff

rooms, etc. During our research we have investigated how the blocks

can be put together and organized into different typologies. We have

created examples of how schools could be organized. We hope that

schools themselves will create their own examples.

We have shown our favourites and developed one example in detail

that explains how a school can expand.

In a similar way we have developed the idea of the classroom. Our

classrooms are conceived as flexible environments capable of

responding to different needs. The classroom is still the heart of the

primary school and is situated within an educational zone which

combines ideas of primary bases with primary departments. Our

ambition is to create spaces both inside and out, shared and individ-

ual, that allow all types of the curriculum to flourish.

To show this we have imagined different scenarios for teaching and

inhabited the drawings with furniture and equipment, showing the

potential use of the spaces that have been created.

Indoor gardens on wheels

Our concept is to create a landscape for learning.Drawing inspiration from African vernacular settle-ments that create communities within a safe bound-ary, making a place within a landscape, our conceptallows the school to imagine the extent of its bound-ary and will provide a foundation for all develop-ment. Within a particular setting, we will grow aschool that can expand and contract.

Kit of Components 04

Our approach is to provide a set of flexible components that can be

assembled in a variety of ways, for example;

Walls creating enclosed space

Windows giving light and views

Canopies creating areas or zones

Roof lights creating gardens and giving air

These components can be used to make tailored spaces, classrooms

libraries etc ; smaller spaces within these rooms are made by use of

light, texture, colour, screens and furniture; in this way more inti-

mate space can be created. It is the aim of our design to provide the

possibility for schools to have practical small group rooms, break-

out space, specialist areas etc to orovide areas for individual and

small group teaching.

Our proposals are to provide a framework for each school design to

grow. We have solved the practical design issues that create an

appropriate modern environment. We have proposed that the land-

scape should be considered as an integral part of the educational

environment.

Our intention is to encourage participation by encouraging input so

allowing the school to engage with the process and to influence the

design and arrangement of the school.

Heat sensitive wallpaper

Components 05

1 Shared Zone - Landscape for learning 2 Education Zone

3 Classrooms - Indoors and outdoors 4 Community

Bespoke Standardisation- the intention is to combine the benefits of the repetitive nature of building a large number of schools, with the need to value the identity of each individual school.To do this we have identified four major components of the school : 1 Shared zone - landscape for learning - defined by the site and the community the setting in which the school is designed.2 Education zone - defined by large wings or canopies that allow a flexible delivery of the curriculum.3 Classrooms - located under the canopies and within the landscape giving potential for many different environments.4 Community - defined by the local people and school the area which the school overlaps with its community.

Our idea is to structure the design process into stages. The landscape strategy will define buildingzones and landscape buffer zones (gardens, playgrounds, planting etc). Areas of the landscape canbe identified for different uses (community, education, recreation etc) as well as entry points,movement and connections.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 Components assembled4 Education zone7 Terracing to create sheltered areas

2 Shared zone - landscape for learning5 Classrooms -indoors outdoors8 Building platforms integrated with landscape proposals

3 Landscape planted to create sheltered areas6 Community9 School components assembled to suit indivdualschool

Building Blocks - Typologies -1 , 2 & 3FE 06

Example 1 Example 2 Example 3

Within the landscape the building components can be introduced. Our building blocks are simple: they are classrooms, halls, staff rooms, etc. During our research we have investigated howthe blocks can be organized into different typologies (examples of different organisations of schools). We have thought of this as a type of spatial game to be played on each school’s site, eachmove influencing another. Above we have illustrated this showing how different plans can be made. We hope that schools themselves will play this game and create their own examples.

3 Form Entry

2 Form Entry

Design developed as core design

1 Form Entry

We have established a wide range of different typologies or building layouts to demonstrate the flexibility of the model. Each typology is generated by the size of the school (or form of entry), along with the chal-lenges and opportunities presented by a particular site. The typologies are made up of different component parts that allow adjustment at a macro and micro scale. This flexible kit of components can create a vari-ety of educational spaces. Our aim is to design schools that use standard elements to create bespoke designs for school communities.

Growing Plan 07

Canopy

Structural rythmn

R 1 2

R 1 2

R 1 2

3 4 5 6

Key Stage 1 - bases

Key Stage 1 - shared

Key Stage 2 - shared

Thermal enclosure

Lungs

Circulation

Community School

The canopies define the education zones; these include class bases, shared spaces, external classrooms etc. The canopies can be extended to house different numbers of classes, and can be simply linked to thecommunity building and other canopies. They can be placed on the site in different arrangements (for example, creating a large continuous canopy; wings and courtyards), to suit the particular site strategy. Theoverlap of the canopies creates a central shared zone which links between the entrance and community block to the classrooms and landscape and house shared resources and dedicated subject-teaching areas.The canopy form defines a framework within which the school can grow and adapt to new ways of learning. The spaces under the canopy can be designed to meet the requirements of each school, whilst the basiccanopy structure remains consistent. The diagrams below show how we have developed the plan for our core design.

Growing Classroom 08

The principle of the design is to

provide a canopy that allows each

school at the design stage to influ-

ence the type of classroom room

provided and as the buildings are

used to allow easy adaption to cre-

ate each term a differnet size of

room. The only fixed decision is the

structural module of the canopies.

Different class bases will be con-structed from the same basic ele-ments. It is intended that a 'kit ofparts' can be created which can bearranged differently to form differ-ent layouts under the same canopy.We have looked at a different class-room sizes and associated sharedspaces that provide a wide rangeof educational arrangements. Theprinciple of the design is thatunder the canopy each school candecide whether to have open plan,

45m2 ,50 m2, 57 m2 or 63 m2

classrooms. The classroom is stillthe heart of the primary school andis situated within an educationalzone that combines ideas of pri-mary bases with primary depart-ments. Our ambition is to createspaces both inside and out, sharedand individual, which allow alltypes of the curriculum to flourish.

Classroom

Corridor

Toilets

Breakout room

The moving wall creates different sized classrooms. Our proposal allows a variety of different sized classrooms underthe canopy. It is possible to create open plan to traditional classrooms. Our proposal allows schools to decide. Wehave developed layout plans in more detail later in the document that show how classes of 50m2,57m2 and 63m2 work.

45m2 50m2 57m2 63m2

The moveable wall is a proposal thatallows the client flexibility. The high-lighted wall is not structural . Thismeans that this wall can be any shapeor located in any position.

This gives flexibility at the design stageand also through lifetime of the build-ing.

For example rooms can easily adaptedduring the summer holidays by therelocation of this wall. The disruptionto the building (to the associatedfloors finishes and walls) will bedependent on the decisions taken atthe design stage and the priority givento flexibility in the clients brief.

Buildability 09

Bespoke Standardisation

The approach to buildabilty draws upon a central tenet of the project; combining the standardised andthe bespoke. The design can be subdivided into 2 basic building types - the community building and theclassroom blocks.

The community building is the façade of the school and as such should be able to change its materialappearance to suit the local context and planning conditions. It has, however, a uniform cross sectionand structural form - which could be prefabricated as portal frames. Variation to specific schools isachieved through the internal layouts and cladding materials. This section can be extruded to accom-modate other functions required within the core variations. The design is conceived as a lightweighttimber framed building built upon rammed earth foundations. The timber frame and uniform shapeallows speed and economy of structure as well as making a sustainable material choice.

The classroom block sits in the landscape under the expansive lightweight timber canopy. The 'oversiz-ing' of the canopy means that the basic roof structure can be prefabricated and used in different loca-tions and designs - whilst the specific spaces of the classroom and break out rooms can be construct-ed underneath - irrespective of the size of the canopy. Again the construction of the classroom andbreak out rooms is essentially timber and lightweight affording the same benefits as the communitybuilding. However there will be a requirement for mass in critical areas to allow for both acoustic insu-lation and thermal mass. This is achieved by using 'lightweight' panel products to create cavities andusing on-site fill (preferably from excavated materials). This avoids the need to transport heavy materi-als to the site.

The elements are designed to fit together - with an adjustable or bespoke element to negotiate thejunction or site conditions.

'Local' Construction. Beyond an elemental consideration of the building, the construction will embracewhere materials come from and who constructs them. A considered investigation of the ground condi-tions will determine the nature of the foundations and the ground floor structure. It is intended toemploy a stabilised rammed system for footings and slabs currently offered by Roger Bullivant. Thisapproach will significantly reduce the material shipped to and from the site and embodied energy usedin construction. For the superstructure, simple prefabricated components (fabricated off-site locally -trussed rafters, walls and ceilings) have been specified, offering the opportunity for local (small) con-tractors to compete against larger contractors.

The construction of schools by local firms has a number of implications, it may be that children of thebuilders will attend the school, as well as disseminating sustainable building techniques to smallerbuilders across the country.

Repetition and Familiarity. The structure is typically repetitive and to a module to suit windows, doorsetc, facilitating off-site prefabrication. The repetitive nature of the design will allow quick familiaritywith how structure should be erected and standardised details completed.

Community Building

Classroom building Informal outside classrom

Flexibility and Adaptability 10

Flexibility & Adaptability

Flexibility and adaptability are primary concerns for our exemplar school. This works at two fundamentallevels: the flexibility of the model design to be adjusted for each site and school community; and the abilityof the school to adapt over time as it grows and changes.

Flexibility : The Design of a School

We have proposed the creation of a 'participation manual', which will help the user group through the dis-cussions and decision-making that will shape their school. From this a collaborative design strategy will bedrawn up, providing the foundation for all development. The exemplar model will need to be flexible andadaptable to suit each landscape, school and community.

We have established a wide range of different typologies (building layouts) to demonstrate the flexibility ofthe model. These are generated from different forms of entry (the size of the school), and adapting to dif-ferent site conditions.

The typologies are made up of different component parts that allow adjustment at a macro and microscale;

The community zone forms the entrance and façade of the school. This accommodates the public andadministrative elements of the school, and the areas of community use. This building could involve a largerelement of 'one-off' design to account for specific school and community functions and use materials andforms appropriate to the local context. This building provides spaces for school and community interaction,extends the schools usefulness, and could provide a planning buffer to the street.

The canopies define the education zones:these include class bases, shared spaces, external classrooms etc.The canopies can be extended to house different numbers of classes, and can be simply linked to the com-munity building and other canopies. They can be placed on the site in different arrangements (a large con-tinuous canopy, wings and courtyards etc) to follow the desires of the site strategy.

The overlap of the canopies will also create the shared zones. These spaces create a link between theentrance and community block, to the classrooms and landscape. They will also house shared resourcesand dedicated subject teaching areas. The spaces under the canopy can be designed to meet the require-ments of each school, whilst the basic canopy structure remains consistent.

Different class bases will be constructed from the same basic elements. It is intended that a kit of partscan be created which can be arranged differently to form different layouts under the same canopy. We havelooked at different classroom sizes and associated shared spaces that provide a wide range of educationalarrangements. 1FE

2FE

3FE

Development principles of the plan

Moveable furniture

Flexible typologies

Structural 11

CLASSROOM CEILING

As the only area fullyexposed to the classroomspace, the ceiling offersthe opportunity to useexposed thermal mass. Aheavy ceiling was desir-able. Initiallybrickwork/blockwork andreinforced concrete con-structions were explored.

Developing an approach toa more sustainable tech-nology, various forms ofclear spanning structureswere considered.

Optimization of the amountof thermal mass requiredled to the serious consid-eration of an infilled tim-ber floor construction.The lighter ceiling withinfill of Sasmox panels andsand or site excavatedmaterial infilling over,could now be hung fromthe truss.

WALLS

With the initial heavybeam/block ceiling propos-als, different types of mas-sive walls were consideredincluding masonry,rammed earth, gabions,etc.With a lighter timber formof ceiling construction, atimber construction wasproposed for the wallsinfilled with sand/rubble toprovide prefabricatablepanels infilled on site (asrequired) to give therequired acoustic proper-ties.

CANOPY/ROOF

A prefabricated lightweight tim-ber canopy was initially consid-ered covering all parts of thebuilding. The proposal offeredpotential programme advan-tages (work could be undertak-en under cover). In places, thecanopy would form part of theroof (in the hall area), with aseparate heavy ceiling structureover the classroom areas.

As the scheme developed, thecanopy now covered the class-rooms only, offering cost sav-ings and shorter spans. Trebledtrussed rafters rather thansteelwork was now more feasi-ble and various truss configura-tions were considered. Ceilingsto classrooms were independ-ently supported off the class-room dividing walls.

The final scheme more fully inte-grates the classroom ceilingwith the canopy trusses, reduc-ing the span of the trusses bysupporting the roof at the lightwell meant that the trussedrafters were stiffened to supportthe ceiling at ceiling positionswhile having the ability to spanclear across at 'pure' canopypositions.

Further exploration of details atthe light well area are beingundertaken.

ROOF SUPPORTS

Point loads from the trusses atabout 1.5m centres would bespread to be supported on tim-ber posts; tree trunks are con-sidered as one way of support-ing the roof.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRUCTURAL CONCEPT Described here is the development of the structural design of the building from concept to outline design. The building is split into a number of elements that are consid-ered individually to make their development more clear. For more details of the chosen form of construction, reference should be made to chapter 4.

SLAB/FOUNDATIONS

The good ground conditions suggest a ground bearingslab. This would limit the carting away of materialrequired and the provision of extra structure if a stan-dard, universally applied, suspended floor system wereproposed. A compacted stabilised earth system is pro-posed. This system involves the analysis and mixing ofmaterial on the site with a stabilizer and ramming thisto form the footings. The ground floor structure is simi-larly constructed of layers of stabilized material. Thisproposal considerably reduces the amount of cementused in the construction of the substructure andrequires a miminal amount of material brought to andremoved from site.

MAIN HALL/ OFFICES

The main hall structure is considered as a super-insu-lated timber framed building, essentially conventional,the structure would probably incorporate engineeredtimber joists to deal with large spans. The foundationand slab structure would be similar to the classroomblocks.

SPECIFIC SITE ISSUES

The sloping site necessitates terracing in the scheme,this would be achieved by using timber crib retainingwalls. There is also the possibility that a nursery build-ing may be part buried. It is proposed to use a stabi-lized soil gravity retaining wall in this area using a simi-lar system to that used for construction of the footings.

Engineers of the future

Environmental 12

Development Idea Typology At an early stage of the project, Max Fordham LLP reviewed the proposed possible typologies for the core brief primary school. Each of

four possible built forms were scored against 10 key mechanical, electrical and environmental criteria in order to arrive at a balanced view of the optimum arrangement. The crite-ria included: daylighting, natural ventilation, acoustics, artificial lighting, IT provision, site infrastructure, access/security, heating, plumbing and water use. The built form that nowforms the basis of the team's final design solution achieved the highest score of these typologies evaluated, scoring 76% against the key criteria.

Max Fordham LLP have carried out mechancal, electrical, environmental and acoustic design for the Schools of the Future project up to stage C/D.The 10 key criteria that were evalu-ated for the proposed typologies have been used to define the scope of our duties for the project. For this particular project and for the level of design required in this final submis-sion, a small number of the key criteria have predominated. We feel that the most important environmental issues are those of daylighting, ventilation, acoustics and to a lesserextent space heating. The proposed design in relation to these issues have been considered in depth for our final submission, particularly in relation to the requirements of DfESBuilding Bulletins 87 and 93. Some of the more straight forward criteria have necessarily been considered, but in slightly less overall detail.

The building orientation has been optimised for the core brief site. Generally a uniform North - South (just off) classroom axis of orientation has been adopted. This allows a com-paratively consistent and cost effective approach to daylighting, ventilation and solar control. Ecotect modelling software has been used to calculate daylight factors and uniformityfor a single classroom unit. Daylight is allowed to enter the classroom via glazing on both the SW and NE facades and via a natural daylighting chimney. Daylighting factors are cal-culated to be comfortably in excess of the requirements of BB87.

Our approach to ventilation of the school building is to use mechanical methods only where absolutely necessary. The important considerations are a comfortable internal environ-ment and also the technical requirements of the Building RegulationsPart.F and BB87. Mechanical ventilation is to be provided for WC's, internal occupied spaces, the main hall andthe kitchen. Where mechancal supply air is required for the kitchen and main hall, simple proprietary air to air heat exchange will be used to recover useful heat from the associat-ed extract systems.The classrooms are to be naturally ventilated utilising a temperature and pressure driven stack effect system. Fresh air inlet is via a series of underground vitrified clay pipes;stale air leaves the classroom to outside via a central ventilation chimney.

The fundamental importance of good internal acoustics for educational buildings has been recognised by the introduction of BB93. This introduces more onerous statutory require-ments for acoustic performance. Our design addresses the key acoustic performance criteria of indoor ambient noise level, airborne sound insulation, reverberation time andspeech intelligibility. With the introduction of BB93 there now exists an interesting tension between the objective of naturally ventilating classrooms whilst meeting the more oner-ous requirements for indoor ambient noise level. The more stringent acoustic requirements do not preclude the use of a natural ventilation strategy for classroom spaces. For ourparticular site, the final design incorporates natural ventilation but also meets the new acoustic requirements.

The final scheme utilises a wet under floor heating system as the primary source of space heating. 'U' values for the individual constructional elements of the building meet orexceed the target values. The ventilation load dominates the heat loss from our typically classroom, which has been calculated at approximately 3.5kW to 6kW. The higher figure rep-resents 8 l/s per person for a fully occupied classroom.The actual amount of heat input to a classroom also depends on the incidental heat gains within the space caused by people, IT equipment and solar gain. During some parts of theyear this contributes positively to reduce the heating load, during the summer months it must be controlled to ensure that the internal temperature limits are not exceeded. Wehave carried our detailed computational fluid dynamic modelling of our typical classroom unit to provide reassurance that the internal temperature does not exceed 28 degreesCentigrade for more than 80 occupied hours in a normal year.

Our approach and solution to these and some of the other key services and environmental criteria are discussed and illustrated in more detail within Chapters 2 and 4.Our design has been assessed using the Exemplar Schools BREEAM environmental assessment spreadsheet.and has achieved a BREEAM rating of 'excellent'. The assessmentspreadsheet is available as a separately submitted document.

Lungs

Chapter 2 - Core Design - 2 Form Entry Primary School C2

View of proposed school,from playing field.

This chapter investigates in more detail our proposal for a 2FE Primary school developed to suit a specific site. The proposals are developed to RIBA stage C/D with a view to develop thedesign to conform to all necessary regulations in the later design stages (RIBA E to F)

Classrooms can be pitched any where, allowing a truly flexible educational environment.

Site Analysis 13

Wind

dire

ctio

n

Bus route

NGradient

Site plan - Showing acousticstrategy.

Acoustic buffer building/crib wallAcoustic buffer trees/hegesSource of noise - playgroundSource of noise - traffic

Acoustically insulated classroom-to BB93Acoustically insulated space exceedsBB93

Site plan - showing cycle routes and car strategy

Extent of drop off

Cycle routePedestrian

Carpark

Landscape - building platforms integrated with landscape proposals

Landscape -terraced to createsheltered areas

The site analysis and landscape is the starting point of the design. The sitestrategy will necessarily be specific to each project and provide the founda-tion for a tailored solution for each school. The site strategy should considerlocal conditions; geophysical, geomorphic, meteorological, infrastructure,current uses, history, and community sensitivities.

Combined with a choice of different building typologies, an overall site plancan be established, including propsals for buildings, landscaping, areas ofexpansion, security, acoustic, transport and movement strategies.

Landscape -Planted to createsheltered areas

2FE - Core Design - Proposed Site Plan 14

Outdoor education carpet

Site plan showing extent of building zone with areafor expansion.

Building zone boundary

Building zone boundary

Extent of expansion site

Once the site-landscape plan has been created, the component parts of the exemplar model can be placed. As discussed in Chapter 1, these components include the community building, theeducational zone, the shared zone, and the classrooms. The core design as illustrated shows one possible layout for this site.

Roof materials To south facing roofs ; over external classrooms clear polycarbonate to timber roof structure; over internal rooms site specific roof material (e.g. Sedum, felt,profiled steel, turn coated steel etc) to insulated timber roof construction. To the ridge, solar panels rooflights and cedar clad ventilation chimneys. To the north facing roofs,extensively planted roof e.g. sedum blanket to insulated timber roof structure.

2FE - Core Design - Proposed Ground Plan 15

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Key stage 1

Key stage 1 - circulation

Key stage 2


General circulation

Storage

Shared accommodation

Staff / administration

Toilets /kitchen

2FE - Core Design - Spatial plan 16

In this proposal the reception bases are 63m2, KS1 bases 57m2 and the KS2 bases 50m2with larger shared curriculum space. In practice however, our design would be develpoedin collaboration with, and reflect the organisational requirements of, the client. This

would influence for example the size of the classrooms.

Security, safety and fire 17

Security and safety. Visibility is the key. The inten-tion is for the school to be accessible and welcom-ing, whilst at the same time able to manage andmonitor the flow of children, parents and generalpublic into the school. The design must facilitate asecurity strategy that can be tailored to suit theoperational requirements of each school. Thedesign shown conceives of security in terms of aseries of layered security lines which can beopened or closed at different times of the day. Forexample, the internet café at the front of theschool may be in use by elderly people from thelocal day centre. At some point, the children mayinteract with this group; alternatively, a securityline may be drawn enabling them to access themain hall without coming into contact with thoseusing the café. Another example is the way inwhich the design provides the school with alterna-tives in how it wishes to receive parents droppingoff and picking up children. They can either comethrough the main body of the school, or bedropped directly at the classroom entrance in theeducation wings.

The future school is conceived as an inclusiveschool, in the sense that it can accommodate allsections of the community. As such, the intentionis that the school is totally accessible and is easilyadapted with the addition of specialist space tobecome a specialist provision.

Fire - Our proposal deals with fire in a simpleeffective way. Firstly it allows immediate escapefrom each space to safety. Secondly the building islined internally with Sasmox, which is resistant tofire and vandalism whilst at the same time beingan environmentally friendly, recyclable material.This product should in most cases remove theneed for sprinklers; however as with security thedesign needs to be tailored to the local situation.The external cladding can be chosen to suit loca-tion and environment.

Diagram showing lines of security. Secure boundaries can be introduced to suitindividual sites and school requirements

The photographs show examples of the type of fencing that can be introduced.Fencing and boundaries should always be used as way of creating imaginativeand interactive environments.

Secureboundary

line

Secureboundary

line

Secureboundary

line

Classrooms 18

1 class base2 Shared class base and corridor3 Break out room / teacher preparation4 Outside classroom5 Toilets

a indoor garden/lungsb coatsc lunch box walld store cupboard

1

2

3

4

5

a

b

c

d

Sketch showing development of classroom components

Outside classroom showing outside teaching

Moveable wall allowing differentsizes of classroom

Acoustic partition

45m2 50m2 57m2 63m2

Shared teaching/corridor

Shared teaching/quiet area

Break out room

Toilets

Wet area

reception - 6 tables

KS 1 & 2tables

role play

role play

soft chair

mobile water play

book storageteachers desk

paper store

classroom store

worktop with storage below

projector

computer desk

sink and drainer

shelf

filing cabinet with store below

lunch box store

KS 1 or 2 KS 2 KS 1 or 2 Reception

Our classrooms are designed to be flexible. Classroom sizes can vary without altering the structure of the building. Most commonly,this will help each school to decide how each class or Key stage can be designed. We have shown in our core design class sizes of50m2 57m2 and 63m2. We believe these will be the most common, however it is possible to create smaller rooms if needed. It is alsopossible to change class sizes through the life of the building to respond to the changing requirements of the curriculum.

Our proposal creates a flexible and economic plan that gives a variety of spaces to teach and learn in.

2FE - Core Design - Elevations 19

A

A

B

B

Elevation A A

Elevation B B

Sketch view of shared teaching space looking intobreakout room

Elevations 20

Sections 21

Typical section through classrooms

Classroom

Ventilation chimney

Outside classroom

Crib wall balustrade

ToiletsShared resources

The section shows the key relation-ships within the education zone. Itextends from landscape and play-ground, shared resource spaceand circulation, through the class-room space (inside and outside), tolandscape again. The educationzone sits under the protectivecanopy, and upon the 'continuous'landscape surface. The intention isto utilise and value both internaland external learning spaces asintegral parts of the school envi-ronment.

Panorama 22

Perspective 23

Sketch perspective looking from headteacher’s office into creative space and to KS2 external teaching area

Site sections 24

A

A

B

B

Section B B

Section A A

Nursery Classroom zone

Community building Link Creative space Canopy

Sketch view of outside classroom

Sketch views 25

Class in the landscape Hydroponic wall hanging Mobile garden Interactive display cabinet

Nice loos IT in the woods

As a learning environment, the design of the school aims toencourage engagement with the natural landscape. To thisend, the layout of the plan reaches out to bring the landscapeinto the building. Each classroom has direct access to theoutside in the form of cover and protected outdoor class-rooms. Green 'lungs', which may take the form of hydrophon-ic wall, or mobile garden, bring activities such as plantingseeds into the classroom. Each classroom is to be naturallyventilated utilising a temperature and pressure driven stackeffect system. A series of underground vitrified clay pipessupply each classroom with fresh air; stale air is expelled viaa central ventilation chimney.

We have shown a series of drawings illustrating the spaces ofour design and concepts for development as the design isprogressed with schools. Our intention is to encourage com-munication by illustrating ideas and aspirations for the learn-ing environment of schools

Area analysis 26

Chapter 3 - Variations C3

Variation - 2FE Site A 27

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Key stage 1


Key stage 2


General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Variation - 2FE Site B 28

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Key stage 1


Key stage 2


General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Variation - 2FE Foundation Stage 29

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Reception

Reception -circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Variation - Classroom sizes - 45 to 63 variation to 2FE 30

Our starting point is that all spaces in the school can be utilised for teaching. We have designed a building that explores the potential of this.Within the core variations class sizes vary from 45 sqm to 63sqm. The smaller the class size, the greater the area available for shared resourcespace. These diagrams indicate the different layouts for the educational spaces, which can adjust for different teaching patterns.

The grouping pattern of these different variations will therefore allow further possibilities: lead-teaching layouts, departments, paired bases withshared resource spaces etc. The ratio between class base and shared space and the grouping patterns will therefore give a great flexibility in theeducational structures of the school.

45 50 57 63

Community overlap 31

Core BriefDiagram showing access and community use

Childrens CentreDiagram showing access and community use

Sports CentreDiagram showing access and community use

Public Space

Support space

Drop off and public waiting /parking

Pedestrian routes into school

Extent of public space

Variation - 4FE Site 32

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Key stage 1


Key stage 2


General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Variation- 2FE + Children’s Centre 33

Nursery General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Children’s Centre - The children's centre extends the facilities and user group of the school. The children's centre will provide childcare services whilst offering further facilities for parents and community. In thisscheme, the children's centre is an extension, both physically and operationally, of the community building. It extends the community role of the school, whilst being accessed directly from the street.

Variation - 2FE SEN Inclusive 34

Nursery

Nursery circulation

Key stage 1


Key stage 2


General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

SEN Inclusive SchoolThe SEN elements of the design are distributed throughout the school. The example below shows how this could happen the coloured areas inicate the SEN provision for a 2FE school. The users of the spaces areincluded within the population and landscape of the whole school. There is a series of more public and shared resources located in the central shared zone, and classroom spaces located around the school.

Public Overlap Inclusive school 35

Public Overlap Inclusive School. The SEN elements are distributed throughout the school. The public overlap with these spaces is largely contained in the public parts of the community building and the semi-publicspaces of the central shared areas. Other SEN spaces are housed within the class bases.

Public Space

Support space

Drop off and public waiting /parking

Pedestrian routes into school

Extent of public space

Variation - 2FE Sports Centre 36

General circulation

Storage



Toilets /kitchen

Sports CentreAs with the children's centre, the sports centre is conceived as an extension of the facilities and structure of the community building. It is located at street edge of the school, utilising the school car park.The cen-tre will provide increased facilities for both pupils and community, accessed directly from the school or street.

Chapter 4 - landscape, structural, environmental, BREEAM, ICT, prefabrication, cost C4

Landscape - 1 37

The landscape is integral to the school of the future. It is conceived as a series of outdoor classrooms, educational gardens, play gardens, wildlife habitat, and frameworks forfuture expansions. The landscape provides learning resources, fuel sources, building resources, food sources, & pollutant cleaning sources. In turn, the school provides waste-water for recycling into the wetlands, grounds maintenance, composted waste etc. The landscape will provide a stimulating and calming influence on the school.

Building resource: Earth from the building excavations is used to make rammed earth foundations and floor slabs. Earth from the excavations will also be used to provide massfor the structure.Learning Resource: The landscape is a resource for teaching the curriculum. Plants and wildlife can be studied at close quarters. Vegetables can be grown. Ecology can be stud-ied. Science experiments can be set using the elements.Fuel resource: Wind is used for generating electricity. Solar collectors are used for water heating. A grove of willow trees will be planted for coppicing for use in the woodburn-ing power generator.Carbon credit source: A forest will be planted which is used as a source of carbon credit.Wildlife and horticulture: Habitats will be created which encourage diverse insect, animal and plant populations. Wildlife corridors will be created across the site to provide safepassage for animals and insects.Food source: A vegetable garden and orchard will not only provide a curriculum resource, but will also provide healthy organic food to be used in the school kitchen and commu-nity café.Pollutant cleaning resource: Reedbeds are used to purify grey waste water generated by the school. The purified water is collected in a pond. The reedbeds and pond become awildlife habitat for newts, frogs, herons, insects and fish. Earth mounds and densely planted vegetation are used as sound buffers to control noise transmission from the road traffic and from the playground.'Lungs' with planted hydroponic wall hangings are located in each classroom. These remove impurities from the air and add oxygen and moisture to the air. Trees are plantedthroughout the school landscape. These trees remove pollutants from the atmosphere and add back oxygen. Studies in Norway have shown that educational achievement isimproved with indoor planting.

Landscape - 2 38

Structural -1 39

CLASSROOM BLOCK

CANOPY/ROOFTrussed rafters (used in the majority of newhouses in Britain) are bunched at approxi-mately 1.5m centres forming trusses. Thisallows access to the area between the truss-es for placing of insulation, etc but also forstorage/plant. Above the classrooms, thetrusses span from light well trusses toperimeter columns and support the class-room ceiling. Beyond the classrooms, thetrusses span clear about 15m to perimetercolumns. This length of truss is comfortablytransported in one piece inclined on a lorry.

CEILINGSupported on dividing walls and hung fromthe trusses, engineered timber joists spancontinuously between the dividing walls atapproximately 7m centres. The joists canaccommodate the thermal mass in the formof sasmox panels and sand/rubble infill.

WALLSDividing walls, incorporating timber columnsas required, are formed of timber studs at400 centres sheathed with Sasmox or OSBboards. The 'cassettes' resulting may befilled with sand/rubble as required to provideacoustic insulation. Other walls would be oftimber studwork (and may be prefabricated).

FOOTINGS/SLABThe building is founded on good ground anda ground bearing solution is proposed, usingRoger Bullivant's innovative 'system first'system. The footings and slab are construct-ed of rammed stabilised material from thesite.

The classroom blocks are highly insulated timber framed structures incorporating rubble/sand fill and heavy panels to give acoustic and thermal mass as required. The classrooms are roofed with a structure thatprojects beyond the classrooms to form covered external areas.The hall/ancillary structure is a highly insulated timber framed structure.Both buildings are founded on stabilized earth footings and utilize stabilizedearth floors.

Structural - 2 40

MAIN HALL BUILDING

ROOFThe pitched roof of the building is expressedinternally by allowing the ceiling soffit to followthe pitch of the roof. 300mm deep engineeredrafters span from eaves to ridge and are typi-cally supported at the ridge with a wall or beamwithin the depth of the rafters. In the hall area,to avoid a large down stand beam at the ridgeposition, the roof is tied to work as a truss. Thistying may be in 2-D or 3-D and may be quitebeautiful, the details of the roof space are to bedeveloped.

FIRST FLOORThe first floor joists span from external to spinewall position and again are engineered joists('Finnforest' or similar). At the spine wall posi-tion, the joists are supported on walls or beamsagain within the depth of the floor.

WALLSThe external walls are highly insulated 200mmthick stud walls. Internal walls are 100mm thickand sheathed as required to provide stabilityfor the building.

STABILITYExternal walls, sheathed with plywood, providestability to the building, along with sheathedinternal walls as shown on the ground floorplan.

SLAB/FOUNDATIONSThe same system as used for the slab and foot-ings of the school buildings is proposed, provid-ing and eco-friendly way to build an elementthat in any standard building would requireextensive removal of material from site and useof a large amount of concrete.

The hall building is again structured of timber, limiting the number of trades on site and thus assisting programme.

Environmental - Acoustics 41

The background noise levels on our site have been used to inform thechoice and method of construction of the external envelope of thebuilding. The classroom effectively forms an isolated thermal/acousticbox under an outer roof structure; the classroom is further bufferedfrom outside by circulation corridors and to a lesser extent WC facili-ties. The background noise level outside the classrooms will be in therange 50 - 52 dB (A). The internal ambient noise level is calculated as34 dB LAeq. The ambient external noise level dictates that someacoustic insulation measures will be necessary at the natural ventila-tion exhaust louvres. Noise ingress at the fresh air intake is unlikely tobe a problem due to the nature of the remote below ground air intakepath. An external teaching space with background noise less than 50dB LA eq will be provided directly outside each classroom unit usingfoliage and/or other acoustic screening.Airborne sound insulation standards between sensitive spaces, partic-ularly classrooms and circulation spaces will actually be in excess ofthe requirements of BB93. This is primarily due to the extensive use ofSasmox sustainable recycled gypsum/wood particle board for wall,floor and ceiling constructions. The density of this material is relativelyhigh at 1250 kg/m3 and hence the material has excellent sound reduc-tion properties. The typical classroom wall construction, for example,will provide Rw = 48 dB with careful detailing of junctions. Generally,wall, floor and ceiling elements will meet the BB93 target acousticrequirements.The primary classroom reverberation time requirement of BB93 is <0.6seconds in the finished but unoccupied and unfurnished state. This isquite an onerous target. The predicted reverberation time of our class-room before additional acoustic treatment is 1.3 - 1.4 secondss partlydue to the Sasmox boarding offering a hard reflective surface. Thefinal design includes for appropriate areas of acoustically absorptivematerial within classrooms and corridor spaces in order to bring thereverberation time down to below the 0.6 second target. Acousticmaterial will also be provided around the perimeter of the ceiling ofthe classroom and at high level within corridor spaces. It should benoted that in practice, 30 occupants, furnishings, perimeter pin boardsetc will dramatically reduce the overall RT for the classroom spaces.The final cellular form of the classroom means that speech intelligibili-ty is not likely to be a problem. As such, speech transmission index STImodelling has not been carried out.

Environmental - Ventilation 42

The classrooms are to be naturally ventilated. Fresh air will be drawn into the class-room via below ground vitrified clay pipes from outside the classroom footprint area.4 pipes of 300mm diameter are required for each classroom to provide an air path ofresistance less than 1Pa. The pipes are currently sized in order to deliver a maximumof 8 l/s per occupant of the classroom, but the fresh air intake volume may be supple-mented in summer months by opening windows. The below ground method of airintake provides two additional advantages: it conveniently deals with potential soundingress issues as the pipes need not be straight; and the ground being at a constant 7- 10 deg Centigrade will tend to passively pre-cool or pre-heat the incoming airdepending on the season. The final design allows for supplementary local heating atthe floor level fresh air intake position to avoid uncomfortable drafts during wintermonths and promote convective air movement.

The stale air from the classroom will leave the space via louvres (standard oracoustic) at the top of the ventilation chimney. The motive force for air movement willbe provided by the temperature gradient from inside to out, the pressure differentialbetween the floor inlet and the outlet louvre at 5m above floor level and will be assist-ed by the position of the exhaust louvres in relation to the prevailing wind direction.Approximately 1.5 to 2m2 of free area will be required for the exhaust louvres at ourparticular site. Background ventilation will be provided to the classroom via additionallow cost trickle type ventilators built into the top of the glazing frames. Simple tooperate local manual control of the fresh air intake will be provided. The system willallow the classrooms to take advantage of free night-time cooling in conjunction withthe ceiling thermal mass during summer months.It is important to note that fresh air ventilation is intended to control the build-up ofinternal contaminants such as carbon dioxide. Our design includes the provision of achild-friendly means of displaying the CO2 concentration within each classroom via acolour changing display. This raises awareness and informs the teacher or memberof staff when to increase ventilation rates or open windows. The presence of foliageand carefully selected plant species within the classroom 'lung' will be used to offsetthe CO2 produced by the occupants by conversion to oxygen. This process may be usedto minimise the overall volume of fresh air required to achieve the target CO2 concen-tration of 1000 ppm.As an additional cost option, the operation of the natural ventilation system may bemade fully automatic via a central BMS system with local manual override controls forthe classroom occupant.

Environmental - Form, Orientation and Daylighting 43

The building form and typology has been assessed for its overall performance against 10key mechancial, electrical, environmental and acoustic criteria. The orientation of therepeatable classroom unit and the amount of glazing on the SW and NE facades has beenassessed and modelled in terms of its daylight performance to optimise the annual day-light factor against the detrimental influences of solar gain and heat loss through theglazing. Glazing ratios are within the maximum allowable area targets set by BB87, butare in excess of the minimum 20% requirement for adequate 'views out'. The final class-room design incorporates a central light chimney with a glazed top piece to allow dif-fuse natural light into the heart of the classroom. The average daylight factor fromEcotect modelling has been calculated at an excellent 7.47% with a uniformity of approxi-mately 0.34. Elaborate solar gain control measures are not required due to the orienta-tion and overhang of the outer roof structure; however internal blinds will be providedto classrooms to allow the occupants to provide partial black-out conditions when usingIT and interactive white boards. Views are provided from the Northern side of the class-room out onto the brightly lit summer landscape.

Artificial lightingThe excellent performance of our classroom in terms of natural daylighting ensures thatthe potential use of artificial electrically powered lighting will be minimised. The artifi-cial lighting installation in a typical classroom consists of direct/indirect linear fluores-cent luminaires suspended below the soffit in order to achieve a maximum measuredoutput of 400 lux on the working plane with appropriate uniformity. Lighting control hasbeen considered carefully as a considerable amount of energy may be wasted if toomuch artificial lighting is provided when not actually required. A balance must be struckbetween the cost effectiveness of the lighting control installation and the energy savingsachieved. Within each classroom we are proposing three locally switched lighting cir-cuits that a member of staff may select as natural light levels dictate. Daylight sensingswitches are available at low capital cost and are to be provided for the luminaires clos-est to the sources of natural light (windows and light chimney). These sensors willensure that artificial lighting is not used when natural light levels are adequate.Generally throughout the building, the artificial lighting will be provided from low- ener-gy use lamp types, locally switched where relevant or centrally switched for circulationspaces and management controlled lighting. PIR movement sensors are also availablerelatively cheaply and will be used for ancillary spaces such asWC accommodation.The predominant use of low energy fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamp types willensure that the average performance of the lighting installation will meet the require-ments of approved document L2. All fluorescent artificial lighting is to be specified withhigh frequency control gear.

Environmental - Heating and Thermal analysis 44

Heating to the school building is to be provided by an under floor heating system of the lowtemperature hot water, wet system type. Heated water is to be provided from central natu-ral gas burning boiler plant. 2 or 3 modular natural gas fired condensing boilers are to beprovided within the plant room. The system is designed to run at a delta T of 20 degreescentigrade to promote condensing and therefore maximum boiler efficiency. The boilersare to be of the low NOx emissions type with burners and the firing process optimised toprovide cleaner complete combustion within the boilers. Boiler system controls are to beprovided to allow direct-on weather compensation and to continuously modulate the outputof the modular boilers to exactly meet the heating (and priority hot water) demand.Each classroom and other rooms are to be provided with separate zoned under floor heat-ing loops with local temperature sensing and control. The maximum heating output per m2of floor area will be chosen for each room to exactly meet the maximum calculated heatloss, which will then dictate the density of the pipework arrangement below floor level.The heat losses and various real and casual heat gains within a typical classroom havebeen studied in detail for a normal yearly cycle. Internal and external building envelopeconstructions have been designed such that the thermal transmittance 'U' values of eachelement meet or exceed the target values of BB87. The ventilation load rather than the fab-ric heat loss dominates the heat loss calculation for our classroom. By robust detailing ofthe method of construction, unwanted infiltration air leakage rates are to be less than 10m3/hr/m2 at 50 Pa. The total heat loss at -4 deg Centigrade external temperature has beencalculated as 3.5kW to 6kW, the larger figure representing the full ventilation load of 8 l/sof fresh air per occupant. The actual amount of heating required for the classroom is actu-ally decreased during winter months due to the positive contribution from heat gains with-in the space from people and equipment and solar gain. During warmer summer months,these heat gains must be controlled to ensure that the internal temperature remains com-fortable. The computational fluid dynamics model that has been created for the classroomconfirms that the internal temperature rises above 28 deg Centigrade for fewer than 80occupied hours in a normal weather year.180 kg/m2 of thermal mass is provided within the classroom roof construction using aSasmox and naturally occurring sand composite. This acts as a damper to large tempera-ture variation and thus assists in keeping the classroom comfortably cool in summer andwarm in winter.

Energy consumption.Calculations have been carried out to estimate the overall energy con-sumption of our primary school. The calculations based on the spread-sheet calculation tool provided with BB87 indicates that our schooltotal annual CO2 production is likely to be of the order of 16 Kg per m2of gross floor area. This equates to a low level of Carbon production ofapproximately 4.3 Kg per m2, against a target value of 5.0 Kg per m2.Energy metering and continuous monitoring is to be provided at allservices connections to the school building including electricity andnatural gas. Local sub metering may be provided where requested butis not included within our final design.

Environmental - Sustainability 45

Automatic controls.Our primary school building requires a relatively straight forwardmechanical and electrical installation. An overall integrated BMS/BEMSsystem for overall automatic control of all plant and equipment is notrequired. Adequate levels of automatic control of key systems may beprovided via self contained local microprocessor plant control panels.The individual control panels may be linked via the school data net-work to provide a collective energy monitoring and recording facilityfrom the various energy meters and sub-meters where installed.Energy use and temperature information will be available for interro-gation from any point on the school data network. This will allow termi-nals to display this data as a learning tool/resource from within anyclassroom.Services, infrastructure and distribution. The main items of heatingand mechanical ventilation plant and the main electrical incomer willbe co-located within a single plant room within the double height com-munity use part of the building. The plant room is therefore locateddirectly adjacent to some of the most highly serviced spaces in theschool, such as the kitchen, hall and changing facilities. Mechanicaland electrical service distributions around the building to ancillary andclassroom wings are to be above ground within the ceiling zone. Thiswill minimise associated builders work requirements and allow servic-es to be generally accessible along their routes.Remote monitoring. Remote monitoring of the automatic control sys-tem panels, energy metering and of the security and CCTV systems isto be provided by robust secure web based technology. This technologyis cost effectively available now and will allow authorised users to logonto and look at these systems from any personal computer that isconnected to the public telephone network.Water Use. Water usage is to be metered at point of entry and at keywater use locations such as the kitchen. The metering will be linked tothe appropriate local control panel to provide recording of waterusage. Sanitaryware specifications will include measures to reduceoverall water consumption and avoid wastage, such as spray heads ontaps and press flow flush activation etc. Our final design includes forsimple low-cost collection of rainwater run off for irrigation use. Thismay be conveniently combined with a rainwater flow rate attenuationholding tank if it is required by the local water authority orEnvironment Agency. Drinking water will be provided by a series ofdrinking water fountains placed throughout the school.

Sustainability optionsOur final scheme design recognises that there are a number of options that may be adopted to improvethe sustainability credentials of the building. We propose three additional systems that would reduceoverall energy consumption and/or running cost of the building that may be considered as additionalcapital cost options. Given the potential large repeat number of schools that may be built around the UK,the potential capital cost of these systems and therefore the likely pay-back periods could be improvedupon.

Photovoltaics convert solar energy directly into electricity for direct use on site or for feeding back intothe national system via grid linked systems. Our primary school is generally single storey and the class-room wings have a South Westerly facing low outer roof pitch. This would lend itself to a relatively opti-mum orientation of photovoltaic panels. In order to generate a useful amount of electricity, large areasof photovoltaic panel are required. Governmental capital grants are available for up to 60% of capitaland installation costs for qualifying schemes, but this would not be available for widespread use onmultiple schools throughout the UK. The economics are such that the payback period for a typical PVinstallation providing electrical power for general school building use is roughly 40 years even with partfunding. Given that the rated life to 80% optimum output of currently available PV panel systems are typ-ically 15 - 20 years, this does not present an economic option at the present time.

Solarthermal water heating systems provide hot water for domestic use by passing cold water througha series of tubes that are exposed to direct solar irradiation on preferably South facing roofs. They tendto be used in conjunction with a conventional boiler powered water heating system. There are opportu-nities to use this type of system for hot water heating to the kitchen, the changing facilities or to the WCaccommodation serving classroom wings. The design of the outer classroom roof structure and thelight/air chimney that connects to each classroom allows for the potential installation of solarthermalequipment during construction or at a later date. A typical payback period of such systems tend to be ofthe order of 10 - 15 years.

Wood burning boiler plant could be provided to replace or supplement the specified natural gas firedcondensing boilers. Relatively large scale pilot schemes in the UK are proving that wood burning plantcan be operated at similar cost to natural gas fired plant provided that fuel wood chip supply chainissues are carefully considered. The wood burning boiler plant itself, including automatic feeding of thewood chip fuel, storage hoppers and builderswork is likely to be of the order of 3-4 times more expen-sive than an equivalent condensing gas/oil fired boiler installation. Initial cost can be mitigated by leas-ing the plant from a third party energy management contractor who could also guarantee the wood chipfuel supply chain. Economies of scale would come into effect if a number of schools within the samelocal education authority were to adopt a similar approach. Best case likely payback times would be ofthe order of 12 - 15 years.

Environmental - BREEAM 46

Using BREEAM assessments within the design process for the Schools of the Future brings benefits, but also raises some difficult issues. In summary, it provides a useful frameworkfor considering the breadth of environmental criteria for design, but it also sets limitations on the approaches that are seen as successful, and requires inappropriate guesses to bemade on details.

Benefits of using BREEAM

Because the BREEAM systems are widely understood, they provide an immediate starting point that most participants are familiar with. The topics covered are felt to give a reasonablecoverage of the major environmental issues, and the breakdown into credits gives a clear definition of the approach to a particular area. Then combining these items into a singlescore allows an overall assessment to be made. Using this, the project team can then compare options for achieving the same result in terms of the total BREEAM score, and selectthose that are most appropriate to the given project.

Problems with BREEAM

The clear major challenge for the Schools for the Future exercise is that it is only a partial design process. Each team is putting forward an approach to the problem set, and this canonly be developed to a certain stage. This represents somewhere around the RIBA scheme design stage only, whereas BREEAM is properly carried out only when tender returns areaccepted, and the design is (hopefully) fixed. Therefore the assessment is based at best on predictions of outcome, or on promises of the work to be done in detail.

The best approach to dealing with this is to encourage the design team to integrate these commitments into the cost estimate for the design being developed, as this at least allowsthe promises to be included in the cost plan. It is all too common for 'environmental features' to be cut when the so-called value engineering process is brought in to cut costs.

The overall risk of this 'too early' aspect is that the designs produced will not be achievable in practice, and there will be a disconnection between the raised aspirations of schoolsand the reality of what can be afforded.

The next issue with BREEAM is that by defining what is in the scheme, the approach implies that other issues matter less - or even not at all. This may well mean that issues of signifi-cance to the local circumstances, over which great efforts may have been made, are not rewarded at all by the scheme. For example in this project the approach taken to userinvolvement in design, and the efforts made to make best use of external spaces are not rewarded at all in the scheme. It is clear that a scheme that is intended to be applicable toany design, but does not reflect the importance attached to local requirements, will make it very difficult to ensure comparability between different designs. The method needs toallow space for extra efforts to be paraded.

Specifics of the scheme

As compared to the office method, the spreadsheet asks a much larger number of questions, not always directly required by the credit, and this makes the process more time con-suming. Perhaps more importantly it is tending to a more deterministic method of achieving the credits, rather than setting a goal and encouraging the design team to propose solu-tions to reaching it. This seems like a move back towards the BREEAM 89 or 93 approach, where credits were awarded for buying particular items of equipment, rather than forachieving a particular performance. This applies particularly to items like controls, monitoring, blinds, durability.

There is also a risk that choices may be made because of the emphasis on particular topics in BREEAM. This follows because of the behaviour noted above when designing to a BREEAMlevel - the cheapest credits are taken first. In particular this version has introduced very many acoustics credits, far in excess of the office scheme. It is clear that the acoustic envi-ronment is important in schools, but less clear that it deserves 8 credits. This balance must be examined carefully before the scheme can be used more widely.

ICT 47

The aim of our proposal is to use computer technology as a means of encouraging participation and integration with the community.

Computers are commonplace with the young and there is no fear of their use; however parents and grandparents are not so familiar, leading to potential problems with the development of the child's education

We are therefore proposing in our core design to place part of the ICT provision at the entrance to the school where parents and visitors are encouraged to use the facilities. This use can either be informal ororganized more seriously as a local internet café.

The aim is to encourage community use, provide children the experience of working with adults, and provide a location for parents and children to work together.

The approach to the rest of the school is influenced by our design approach to the school of the future. Our aim is to create an environment that is not defined by classrooms and which gives many different typesof spaces and opportunities. We think that learning with computers will help this. We intend to provide cabling that allows flexible use of ICT equipment, not only will children be able to use computers within theclassroom, but we aim to provide outlets under the canopies in the corridors and in the landscape. Classrooms can be pitched any where, allowing a truly flexible educational environment.

IT ProvisionIt is unwise to make firm predictions of the future direction that information based technology will take in the general market place or specifically within educational facilities. We have therefore attempted to makesensible choices in the specification of IT infrastructure to allow emerging technologies to be added at a later date when formats and capabilities are better defined. The school building will be provided with astructured wiring system consisting of Cat 6 data cabling from an appropriate number of plug in points in each room back to a central data patch cabinet. This will allow the building user to define the type of inter-nal/external data or telephone service to be provided at each point. The IT requirement for a primary school is relatively basic; however, it is recognised that use of laptop computers as part of teaching willbecome more prevalent. These may be networked via physically plugging into the structured wiring system, or via a wireless network fed from transmitters/receiver stations themselves plugged into the structuredwiring system.

Prefabrication 48

Off Site Construction : Benefits and DrawbacksAs a practice, we have had considerable experience with off-site construction through a partnership project with a nation-wide modular building manufacturer. This gave us the opportunity to identify some of thepros and cons of off-site construction. For a school (particularly an existing one) the benefit of speed of construction and minimal on-site disruption is a major factor. The mass-production of elements as part of alarge scale building programme should also afford an opportunity to evolve the technical design; to test and develop prototypes; and to streamline details, similar to a motor manufacturing process. This could cutdown on wastage, minimise delays due to unforeseen construction difficulties, and improve quality of build where carried out under factory conditions.

Large-scale off-site construction will require considerable infrastructural preparation - such an industry will have to already exist or be created from scratch. The choice of construction will rely on a detailed analysisof processes available. The main problem with this approach, as mentioned, is the ability to create a one off specific design - which is usually desirable to each school community. Mass production manufacturing isnecessarily inflexible and the desires of each school are rarely consistent. In addition if a mistake or problem does occur - it may be a problem multiplied on a large scale. The appropriate building material may alsovary from site to site - depending on local building character or planning sensitivities.

Mass Production, Prefabrication and LandscapeWith this in mind, our design is considered as a kit of parts - where some elements are appropriate for prefabrication, and others as on site operations. With further development of the design, it is envisaged that thekit of parts could be analysed to establish the appropriate construction process for each element. At this stage this can be crudely divided into 3 operations: mass production, off-site prefabrication of componentsand one-off site operations. As discussed in the Buildability section, the main structures (community building and class canopy) are intended to be consistent, repeatable elements, that will lend themselves to massproduction and off-site prefabrication. These are large-scale elements and the main body of the building can be established with these parts.

The secondary elements are conceived as modular components with standardised dimensions allowing prefabrication, although they could be assembled in different arrangements and layouts for different schools.These elements include external and internal wall panels, doors and windows, service and sanitary accommodation, and modular services installations. The elements could be standardised for all projects -but withassemblage of specific to each project. However, much of the layout of the school will be consistent due to curricular similarities, which should allow further scope for standardisation of the buildings.

The main 'antidote' to mass produced homogeneity is consideration of the landscape. Through the Participation Manual approach it is intended to create a collaborative site strategy that will be specific to each com-munity and context. This is the primary structure of each scheme,within which the mass-produced structures are 'specifically' placed.

Mass Production: Mass, Locality and TransportationThe main structural and constructional material of the scheme is timber. This remains one of the few genuinely environmentally-friendly building materials; it is also lightweight, locally available and involves simpleconstructional methods and technologies. Energy expended in transportation is reduced owing to reduced weight, the greater likelihood of locally sourced materials and the use of local contractors and subcontrac-tors. This will also mean greater chance of employment at a local level and benefit to local economies.

In addition, the use of simple building technologies means simpler maintenance and repair programmes for the buildings lifespan.It is possible that benefits could be achieved through a large-scale timber manufac-turer or system-builder - this could be a decision made for each individual project. Within the buildability section (on page 9) there is also a discussion of using site-specific foundations and ground floor structuraltechniques, which can be seen as part of the specific, site based operations of the landscape scheme.

Partnering and Contractual ArrangementsIn recent projects, we have attempted to develop a partnering relationship with the main contractor as opposed to a traditional contractual arrangement. This allows the contractor to be involved at a much earlierstage in the design and make valuable contributions to the discussions on construction, programming and costing. The contractor also takes a greater responsibility throughout the duration of the project.

With this project we can envisage a partnering process at two different levels. At a large-scale mass production level this could involve the development of prototypes and access to specialist knowledge in the cre-ation of the larger elements. It is possible that this could happen at an international level, if the size of the project justified it. At a smaller, local scale, partnering with a local contractor will allow access to localknowledge and trades. This could be as main contractor, or subcontracting the secondary level prefabricated items.In either situation, funding parameters for the projects would have to be adaptable enough to allowprocurement routes outside the traditional tendering routes.

Bespoke StandardisationAs with much of our scheme, the intention is to combine the benefits of the repetitive nature of building a large number of schools with the need to value the identity of each individual school. Whilst the curriculardemands of each school may not vary a great deal, the needs of each individual school will need to be considered if the school building is to be a lasting success.

The key to combining these divergent needs is to identify which elements lend themselves to mass production and pre-fabrication, or to specific on site design and construction.

Cost - 1 49

Cost - 2 50

Cost - 3 51

Cost - 4 52

As explained in the foreword by DfES, we have asked

all the teams to subject their designs to a number of

focus groups and to organisations with a direct interest

in the design and use of school buildings. Some of

these ‘reviews’ have occurred at the end of the design

process and the teams have not always had an

opportunity to fully respond to the comments. To

demonstrate the development of Exemplar Designs as

an ongoing, dynamic process what follows is a

summary of some, of these reviews particular to

Cottrell and Vermeulen’s design and, where possible, a

response from the design team or a commentary on

how their design has been developed following the

review. The DfES does not necessarily endorse

comments made in the reviews, many of which may be

subjective or coming out of a particular interpretation of

earlier versions of this Design Team Report. The DfES

has decided to include them as a contribution to the

debate and a steer towards aspects of the design that

anyone using them might wish to consider and

reassure themselves on. We are grateful to the design

team for agreeing to allow such close scrutiny of their

work.

Primary Focus Group

When much of the design development had been

completed we asked the design team to present their

scheme to a Focus Group. This group included a

number of Headteachers, school bursars, education

advisors and other architects with education design

experience. The comments fed back to the team

included some from those who were unable to attend

the meeting but had responded to a set of key

drawings sent to all focus group members prior to that

meeting.

Some of the main points fed back to the Cottrell and

Vermeulen team included the following.

Aspects of the design that the Focus Group supported

included:

• The plan works well on a sloping site, keeping the

whole building single storey, fairly compact and

legible.

• Classrooms are spacious and have a pleasant

outlook.

• The idea of being able to link pairs of classrooms

into one large one is sound for a 2FE school, the

preferred size for an urban school.

• Provided there is enough daylight in classrooms, the

deep overhangs into the playground areas are good,

providing protection from showers and sun.

• Ventilation and acoustic proposals all look good.

• The landscaping looks well thought out, and creates

good educational opportunities.

• The idea of an informal ‘cyber café’ social area is

good. This would be of benefit to parent and adult

helpers, and could provide a source of income

outside school hours if used by the local community.

Some aspects of the design the Focus Group thought

needed further development included:

• The two Key Stage wings may not support a whole-

school cohesive approach.

• The detached nursery has some advantages, but

may make management harder, e.g. in relation to

sharing resources etc. Perhaps consider linking to

reception classes?

• Need to consider how parents coming by car can

drop children off safely and quickly (some will be

inevitable and it invariably causes huge traffic and

safety problems).

• There may be an issue with the number and siting of

staff toilets, particularly where the staff room is either

upstairs or some distance from the furthest

classroom. Also staff sometimes wish to work in the

classroom throughout break, so ideally adult toilets

should be sited around the building or at least at

both ends with possibly slightly more than the norm.

• The impact of the main reception is important for the

school’s image; therefore it may be preferable to re-

site facilities such as the cleaner’s store away from

this area. Similarly, attention should be paid to the

siting of interview rooms, which will be used for

discussion of sensitive issues and may cause

embarrassment to parents if in full view of other

visitors.

• It may be preferable to have the boiler and

associated services on the ground floor, so that

these can be monitored and serviced more easily.

BREEAM Assessment

The teams all worked with the Building Research

Establishment (BRE) and our brief to develop designs

to help establish a BREEAM (BRE environmental

assessment method) for schools. The project has been

assessed using the specially adapted version of

BREEAM for schools. It is early stages for this but we

set a target of ‘very good’ for this project and at the

completion of the work all the design team reports

were appraised by BRE. Feedback was given to the

teams and many improved their schemes further. Some

of the team’s design reports have been re-assessed

and the latest comment from BRE on the Cottrell and

Vermeulen schemes is that the scheme might be

capable of achieving the required BREEAM rating of

‘very good’ given good attention to construction detail

and site context.

This score is, the Management and Land Use and

Ecology sections could not be assessed at this stage

but the BREEAM score based only on the building

related issues is 40%. The design will achieve a rating

of 28.5% if no additional site related criteria are

achieved. This means that approximately 60% of the

remaining credits will be required to achieve a ‘very

good’ rating. It would only be possible to achieve an

‘excellent’ rating if more building related credits are

achieved, subject to results of the latest review.

Further discussion of all the designs will be continued

on the website www.teachernet.gov.uk/exemplars

Design Team’s Response

Cottrell and Vermeulen worked with Andrew Cripps

from Buro Happold. From the outset we looked at

genuine ways of designing a sustainable structure. We

reduced concrete and cement use to a minimum (one

of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide emission) but

using rammed earth and rubble; we did not use steel

for the structure, but rather sustainable softwood

throughout. The design has been arranged to provide

optimum natural ventilation, daylight etc. The design is

exemplar in its use of sustainable materials.

However, it is difficult to make an assessment of the

designs when there are many aspects that are only

partly developed. This affects the Cottrell and

Vermeulen’s project particularly because the approach

taken was to focus on limited aspects of the design.

This meant that details were not developed for many of

the areas most influential for BREEAM, reducing the

score that the project could achieve. When developed

in detail in the spirit of the work to date, the approach

represented by the team would be expected to achieve

the ‘excellent’ rating.

afterword

Zurich Fire Safety and Security Assessment

The Working Group for the Exemplar Design

programme included a representative of Zurich

Municipal Insurance. The teams were all encouraged to

consider fire engineering of their designs – particularly if

they were relatively novel in approach. They also had

an opportunity, at the 2-day workshop in Birmingham

at the start of the project, to hear how Zurich assesses

school buildings when they consider the insurance risk.

The teams also attended a presentation later in the

programme by the Fire Safety Group whose members

significantly manufacture passive fire protection

systems. It should be recognised that there is

considerable debate between those who advocate

active fire protection systems, such as sprinklers and

the passive protection offered by a range of insulation

boards.

We invited Zurich to look at the first draft design team

reports and provide us with a preliminary assessment

of the Fire and Security risk as they saw it. The Cottrell

and Vermeulen Architects team was provided with the

full report in December 2003 and have offered a

response below. This is a very subjective area and the

assessments are by one particular company in the

market. We feel it is important to continue this debate

and will publish more material on the teachernet

website www.teachernet.gov.uk/exemplars in due

course.

In the fire safety and security assessment by Zurich of

the Cottrell and Vermeulen scheme the following points

were included:

• The design of the classroom and other blocks

includes significant amounts of lightweight,

potentially combustible, materials in the framework,

canopy and exterior. The construction of the light

ventilation funnels, for example, could be of timber or

cardboard.

• While there are acoustic baffles, no details are given

of their construction. A fire would probably affect

more than one compartment. The views of the Fire

Service will need to be sought on how they would

fight a fire in this school.

• Means of escape would need to be designed

according to the combustibility of the building, but as

it was a single storey design there should be no

problems as regards escape.

• It was considered that this scheme would have a

higher insurance risk rating for fire because of the

use of combustible materials, but this situation could

be improved through sprinklers, subject to

appropriate insulation protection.

• In relation to security, the gap between the canopy

roof and the building below would need to be closed

to avoid ingress. Other possible areas of risk include

the concealed areas, the large areas of glazing, the

easily accessible roofs and the hidden areas created

by landscaping.

• Vandalism could present a problem in relation to the

concealed areas, lightweight construction, large

areas of glazing and easily accessible roofs. The roof

lights and light tunnels may also pose risks. If

children obtained access to the roof they could climb

the outside of the tunnels and possibly fall into them.

Although these funnels will be capped, the strength

of the materials used must be considered.

afterwordDesign Team’s Response

Cottrell and Vermeulen work frequently in areas with

vandalism and we disagree with Zurich. The starting

point of our scheme is to engage the community in

their building. We believe that by engaging the

community they are less likely to vandalise. We strongly

believe that the exemplar schools should address this.

To respond to specific points, the building is internally

lined with Sasmox, which is a fireboard. The external

lining is site specific – if a vandalism area, this will be

clad in an appropriate material. The same applies to

the roof cladding. Vandalism would be reduced by

perimeter site security and if additional requirements

are required, we intend to enclose the canopy areas

with security screens. The roofs are design so that they

will require ladders for access – i.e. Columns and

rainwater downpipes set back.

CABE special design review committee

All the teams were invited to present their schemes to a

special design review meeting at CABE after

completion of the design process. This was broadly a

review carried out by a committee of environment

professionals. The committee had some background to

the brief for the project before hand, and based the

review on the key drawings, a short presentation by the

design team, and a question and answer session. The

full comments of the Design Review Committee have

been passed onto the design team, we are grateful to

Cottrell and Vermeulen for allowing the following

summary which identifies strengths in the design and

areas where further development might be considered.

The CABE design review committee considered this

solution to be sophisticated and flexible that would

provide an intelligent and cost-effective prototype. They

felt that a lot of thought had gone into the actual

process of developing the design and developing the

process manual. The committee were impressed by the

simplicity of the shed form and the ability to adapt the

cladding to give it a distinctive site-specific appearance.

Overall, the scheme was considered to offer inspiration

out of relative straight forwardness.

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