UK school aspires to Passivhaus standard energy efficiency

Designs have been produced by engineering, design and project management company Atkins for a new Passivhaus-certified school in the UK.

The school is the largest project to be commissioned under a pioneering multi-disciplinary consultant partnership agreement between West Sussex County Council and project and programme management consultancy, Faithful+Gould.

Energy-efficient buildings

Passivhaus certification means a building must be designed and built to the highest energy-efficient standards. The project demonstrates a significant contribution to West Sussex County Council’s commitment to significantly reduce carbon emissions in its Climate Change Strategy 2020 to 2030.

The local authority is planning to build the new six form entry secondary school, with a total project budget of £57m, at Homes England’s Brookleigh development (formerly known as the Northern Arc) near Burgess Hill in Mid Sussex.

“By investing to create this innovative school we are demonstrating our commitment to reducing our environmental impact by cutting carbon emissions and focussing on sustainable projects”

A planning application was submitted in August which set out an ambitious sustainability agenda of climate resilience and net zero requirements, integrated into the design, including ultra-low carbon emissions, an acute focus on energy efficiency, insulation, on-site energy generation and zero use of fossil fuels in the running of the building.

A key design principle has been to place the building sympathetically within the natural landscape of the site while maintaining an optimum building orientation for daylight and sun penetration.