Architects: Curl la Tourelle
Role: Building services engineering, energy consultancy and sustainability advisory services
This newly built secondary school is on the site of an existing school in Peckham, South London, and is part of the initiative to provide high-quality beacon schools. The project also contributes to the wider regeneration of Peckham.
A key element of the appointment of Halcrow Yolles to the project was our understanding of and commitment to sustainability for the new school, in support of a low-carbon agenda. To that end, our input covered not just building services engineering but also building physics and sustainability advice. We worked closely with Curl la Tourelle architects and the rest of the design team to produce a truly integrated building that minimises the environmental impact of the school while providing high-quality facilities and an interactive learning environment.
The school is a centre of excellence in performing arts and business studies for 1,400 students. Three-storey teaching blocks and a sports hall have been integrated with refurbished buildings to provide information and communication technology enabled facilities for all departments. The new buildings feature a carefully designed active façade which incorporates automatically controlled trickle and night ventilation, large summertime openings and high-quality triple glazing with integral blinds to minimise glare and control solar gain.
To ensure proper ventilation, stale air is exhausted via natural stack chimneys terminating above the roofline. Exposed internal ceilings help to moderate inside temperatures and mitigate heat gain in the summer.
High levels of insulation minimise heating demand and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Further reductions in emissions are achieved by using solar thermal panels to pre-heat domestic hot water.
Acoustic panelling is installed at high level around the perimeter of classrooms to reduce reverberation and conceal services.
The use of energy and resources by the school is monitored by the building management system. This is linked to the school's data network so students can study energy consumption and monitor the effectiveness of natural ventilation, solar thermal panels and water recycling. The construction programme was phased over three years to minimise disruption to the school's academic timetable.