The initial client brief was issued to the Lead Consultant to replace the existing Victorian school. Trafford MBC were determined that the new school should be as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as the capital budget would allow, and this became a major driver in the environmental services design and solution. The services consultant, worked very closely from the onset with the Architect, advising on building form, shape and orientation to maximise the benefit from LZC’s (Low and Zero Carbon technologies), renewable energies and fully automated natural ventilation.

Early stakeholder collaboration was facilitated by The Integrated Supply Team (IST) who involved the school via staff, parents, governors and pupil meetings and held two public consultation days.

The IST including the lead supplier McGoff and Byrne was mobilised and the design brief subsequently developed by the team who carried out site appraisals on the existing school site including surveys, sun path tracks, and traffic analysis as well as neighbourhood issues, with technical support sought from specialists. The whole building is naturally ventilated: reviving the Victorian empirical solutions that were a feature of the old school.

The classrooms all face south, thus maximizing the use of daylight and free heating by the planned use of passive solar gain. Sophisticated lighting controls ensure that the lighting is dimmed when sufficient natural daylight is present, and are switched off when the rooms are vacated. Two large solar collectors sit on the south facing roof to make full use of the suns energy throughout the year.

Rain water is recycled - pumped by a wind turbine to a holding tank for flushing the lavatory cisterns. These high profile energy saving measures are also intended as a teaching aid to emphasize the importance of looking after our planet.

The IST monitored progress against programme and budget spend to ensure that the school, together with the FF&Epackage was delivered on time, ensuring the allocated funds were optimised to drive best value. The savings realised were reallocated to fund additional nursery play space.

The Stakeholder engagement process continued throughout the design & construction phase, as the IST were eager to involve the pupils and staff to make the new school a place where learning will be fun. The team held client and end-user meetings parallel to the site meetings and a programme of site visits under the Considerate Contractors Scheme ensured that the staff and children could experience the building at first hand. A website camera linked to the temporary school and site facilities became a great teaching aid and also a valuable security measure.

The IST are currently conducting a Post Implementation Review, analysing the gas, water & electric usage of the school since handover, and will shortly be able to benchmark the school and define the lessons learned. This review has been invaluable, as whatever the results, we will be able to assist the school in lowering its energy use by retraining the staff in the correct operation of the various systems, educate on good housekeeping and teach the schools staff how to undertake their own simple energy monitoring in the future.