28/06/11 - Most Innovative New Product Award for Passivhaus Schools
Thomas Vale Construction and delivery team members have scooped the Business in the Community Start Award for Most Innovative New Product or Service for two new Passivhaus Standard Schools which are being constructed on behalf of Wolverhampton City Council.
Oak Meadow Primary School will receive a new £5.1m school while Bushbury Hill Primary School will benefit from a new building costing £4.1 m.
Having already designed and built the first BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Excellent Primary School in Britain, the design team proposed that these projects should be taken to the higher standard of ‘Passivhaus’. The Client, Wolverhampton City Council, embraced this proposal due to the benefits of significantly reduced energy consumption and running costs, together with improved internal comfort (constant temperature and lower CO² levels) achieved through mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.
Jonathon Hines Director, Architype commented “We expect to achieve the completion of the first two certified Passivhaus schools in the UK for the same capital cost as standard construction, and realise significant energy and carbon savings in occupation. We will monitor performance over two years to ascertain how successful reality is compared to prediction.”
These Passivhaus school projects are already arousing great interest in the industry. They are being presented at conferences and appearing in the press regularly. There is a genuine interest amongst contractors, design teams, clients and authorities on this approach, and its potential applicability in the UK.
Richard Green, Divisional Director added: “As a business, this award demonstrates our commitment to providing environmentally sound schools with reduced running costs for end-users across the region. Constructing Excellence has recognised Oak Meadow and Bushbury as Demonstration Projects. The Passivhaus and sustainable build techniques display our abilities as a company to deliver these types of projects on-time and within budget.”
Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence are the UK’s most influential responsible business awards and the ultimate accolade for companies’ corporate responsibility activity. The 2011 BITC Start Awards plays host to Recognition, reward and celebration of achievements of businesses whose corporate responsibility programmes have made a real difference in the West Midlands.
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