Keegans announces completion of green school project in Royal Borough of Kingston

Project Managers, Keegans working in conjunction with Architects, ECD Architects and Contractors, Thomas Sinden have completed a low energy school project in the Royal Borough of Kingston.

The 970m2 new-build project at Castle Hill Primary School, Chessington which facilitates the amalgamation of an infant & junior school onto a single site is now complete and was officially opened by Patrick Leeson – Director – Development, Education and Care, Ofsted on 16 June 2011.

The accommodation consists of eight Key Stage 2 classrooms in a curved block, separate dining hall & kitchen block, refurbished library & IT rooms, SEN and specialist language facilities, and ancillary & support accommodation.

The project has been designed as an exemplary low-energy project to meet the brief criteria of 60% reduction in CO2 emissions and BREEAM ‘Very Good’.

Key features include:

• classroom block orientated to minimise solar gain (a physical model was analysed at the UCL Bartlett heliodon) and maximise views over mature landscaping
• 180m2 photo-voltaic array mounted on the existing school roof
• excellent U-values – typically 0.15W/m2K for floors, walls & roofs
• natural ventilation & night purging via roof-mounted windcatchers
• solar control glazing to south & west elevations augmented with brise-soleil, low-e glazing to east & north elevations.
• smart controls to all lighting
• exposed thermal mass to regulate & minimise overheating

ECD have recently been awarded grant funding to carry out a two year Building Performance Evaluation Study to assess how the building performs, and how it can be fine-tuned to optimise it’s performance

The project was funded under the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames Primary Capital Programme.