The Department of Education has made its commitment to energy efficiency and CO2 reduction clear in developing and bringing into practice targets for primary school design that aim for less than half of the accepted good practice in the field. Project coordinator John Dolan, Senior Engineer with the Department of Education explains how this approach works within normal Departmental budgetary limits to create school buildings that show the way ahead for building designers.

The commitment of the Planning and Building Unit within the Department of Education & Science to developing low energy educational buildings continues with the roll out of generic repeat design (GRD) schools.

The project is one of many of the energy projects that the Planning and Building Unit continue to develop as part of their energy policy which is based on a process called the DART approach. The acronym focuses on four key areas, namely; Design, Awareness, Research, and Technology.

The objective of the generic repeat design process was to develop an off the shelf solution to pre-tender stage for a template primary school design package that can be given to design teams. The design team then deals with site specific issues, the planning process and tendering and construction. A key advantage of this is savings in significant design time and costs as the generic design emphasis means that new permanent primary school accommodation can be provided in approximately fifteen months from need identification, site procurement and design team appointment.

The GRD school project consists of a design for a standard eight, twelve, and sixteen classroom school built in line with the Department’s basic building cost but with additions for air tightness and improved insulation standards. The design also allows for the eight and twelve classroom versions to be expanded in the future if needed with minimal disruption to the existing school building whilst allowing the day to day functions of the school to continue.

The design is a two storey solution which maximises land-use, provides a compact building envelope that can be easily extended, and offers the benefits of improved security, supervision and inter-relationship of spaces for the school management team and users. The building has been designed with reference to best practice in school design with emphasis on all aspects of the learning environment, creating a whole building solution, and addresses issues such as massing, orientation, spaces, use of durable and low-maintenance materials, sustainability, access for all and integration of special needs pupils, with clear way-finding definite entrances and an alternative main entrance to suit a variety of site orientations.

The School's atrium allows daylight penetration