Passivhaus school extension project goes out to tender
A 6,000 sqm extension to a secondary school in the London Borough of Camden aiming for Passivhaus certification is progressing well. Planning permission has been granted and the project has gone out to tender this summer after the completion of the Stage E technical design stage.
Parliament Hill School. Image credit - A Studio
Design development
The design evolution over the past six months has concentrated mainly around developing the details of the design principles established at Stage D, including key thermal bridges and how they could be reduced/ designed out (e.g. approach to foundations and penetrations through ground floor insulation).
Stage E also led to a more refined analysis of predicted occupancy. Occupancy rates and densities are much less predictable in a secondary school than they are in a primary school and it is essential to assess them as realistically and accurately as possible.
Parliament Hill School. Image credit - A Studio
Most importantly, it is crucial to ensure that occupancy variations inform the design of the services (e.g. simple system to adjust supply flow rates to unoccupied rooms) as well as the fabric performance (knock-on effect on U-values requirement to achieve 15 kWh/m2/year).
Product specifications
The window product, glazing specification and installation are all critical to the extension achieving Passivhaus certification. Performance of aluminium window frames is wide ranging and for this reason a Passivhaus certified window product has been specified to guarantee the thermal performance of the system.
High-spec triple glazing has been specified throughout the building with a U-value of <0.65W/m2K and a g-value of 0.5. The visualisation below shows the window locations and types (opening windows in purple, fixed pane windows in blue).
Window types and locations. Image credit - A Studio
Camden Council and the project team have confirmed their ambition to achieve Passivhaus certification and are looking forward to working with a suitable contractor to deliver it.
Key team:
Client: London Borough of Camden
Architect: A Studio
Quantity surveyor: G&T
M&E: Hoare Lea
Structure: Terrell
Landscape: Colour
Passivhaus: Etude
Further information:
Previous news article - Parliament Hill School awaits planning approval for Passivhaus development, 26th January 2015
23rd September 2015
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