<< back to CIBSE BPA Winners 2014 Overview
New Build Project of the Year (value up to £10m)
Montgomery Primary School, Exeter - HamsonJPA
Exeter's Montgomery Primary School is top of the class, with lessons to be learnt from its Passivhaus principles and its strategy of zero carbon in use.
Montgomery Primary School in Exeter is one of the first Passivhaus schools in the UK and is said to be the first "true" zero carbon in-use school in Europe. Using Passivhaus principles (and heat from the pupils) the building is constructed to minimise heat losses and is built using precast concrete panels with high thermal mass. The design is expected to pass the requirements of BB 101 for the current climate, but also be able to deal with future temperature change.
Key design features are:
- Orientation of the building to maximise on-site photovoltaic generation
- Use of materials from sustainable sources
- Minimisation of construction waste by use of off-site construction techniques
- Design for low maintenance - whole life costings undertaken
- Providing a suitable thermal environment for the lifetime of the building.
To ensure the commissioning and handover process ran smoothly, the Soft Landings approach was adopted, in addition to an extended commissioning period being specified in the contract. To date, the extensive building modelling undertaken has almost perfectly predicted the energy and comfort requirements of the building in use. Data has been submitted to the CarbonBuzz website.
Project Team
Building services engineer: HamsonJPA
Building owner: Devon County Council
Building occupier: Montgomery Primary School
Project manager: W T Hills, Exeter
Quantity surveyor: NPS Group Exeter
Architect: NPS Group Exeter
Mechanical and electrical engineer: HamsonJPA
Contractor: Bam Construction
Shortlisted
CarbonLight Homes IV, Kettering - VELUX Company
Preston Manor Lower School, Brent - HLM Architects
Si Yuan Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham - URS
<< back to CIBSE BPA Winners 2014 Overview