BUILDING GREEN AT PORT REGIS

Peter Dix, Headmaster of Port Regis School in Dorset, tells us about a brand new building which is both green, practical and beautiful

Port Regis School, near Shaftesbury in Dorset, has long been a market leader in the prep school world and a beacon for innovation. Two inspirational Headmasters, David Prichard and Peter Dix, have overseen the school’s remarkable physical development, aided by joined-up forward thinking amongst the governors and led by their chairmen. The most recent development, the Academic Centre, was opened in September 2008, named after John Upward, Headmaster of the school from 1934-1969. The school’s motto Altiora Peto, which strictly means ‘I seek higher things’, might appropriately be paraphrased ‘onward and upward’!

The academic centre provides 14 classrooms, each with its own staff office, a computer suite and several small-group teaching and meeting rooms as well as a resource centre but that is only the beginning of its benefit to the school. Designed by a recent ex-parent from Philip Proctor Associates and built by Snibor (owned by a current parent) the centre is housed in a building that is not only breathtaking in its design but also highly functional and ecologically sound.

From an early concept stage, Upward was designed as a low-carbon solution. Sustainability was the theme, with the emphasis on low energy use as well as the comfort of the children in their primary learning environment.Working closely with the architect and contractors, the school’s management team soon became convinced that not only would this approach result in low running costs but it would also allow the school to recoup the capital investment in the ecotechnology within about four years. That confidence was well founded: the building is running at just 40% of the cost of any other building on the campus. It was also apparent that the children would be inspired at a very formative stage of their lives by the creation of a lovely building in which they would work and which would conform to their strongly green outlook on life.

The building employs three key methods of avoiding wasted energy:

1. The building was designed to facilitate the natural ventilation of the 14 classrooms. By
arranging the classrooms on either side of a central atrium space, fresh air can be drawn through the rooms by natural buoyancy, without the need for fans. ‘E-Stack’ consultants of Cambridge were employed to detail the system. In winter mode, when the building is to be heated, classroom windows remain shut and fresh air is drawn in through the high-level windows of the atrium. In this way, cold fresh air from outside can be mixed with warmer ‘exhaust’ air within the atrium space before being introduced into classrooms, thus avoiding cold draughts.

In summer mode, when the building needs to be cooled, classroom windows will be open and, using air within the atrium, will draw fresh air through the building, expelling it through the high-level atrium windows. Automatic window openers, connected to temperature and CO2 sensors, control each classroom separately, keeping the learning environment comfortable and air quality good - and avoiding stuffy classrooms or snoozing pupils! The system should operate so efficiently that the need to heat the building will be reduced significantly. At extremes of external temperature the building will need to be heated and, in summer, cooled. A geo-thermal (ground-source) heat pump has been incorporated to provide the temperature control.

2.Heat pumps work in the same way as a domestic fridge. Refrigerant is pumped through an evaporator within the fridge which absorbs heat. This is then compressed and the heat expelled through a condensing element on the back of the fridge (the warm grille). In Upward, the evaporator takes the form of twelve 80m deep bore holes.Heat is absorbed from the ground, compressed within the heat pump unit, and expelled within the building. Under-floor heating acts as the ‘condensing’ element, releasing heat into the building. In summer, the system can be operated in reverse, extracting heat from the building and releasing it into the ground via the bore holes.

The greater the depth, the less seasonal changes affect the building since temperatures within the ground become more stable the deeper you go. In the UK, at depths below 15m, the temperature of the ground is 10º to 12º all year round. For every KW of energy used to run the heat pump (electricity required to run the pumps and compressors) 3·5-4 KW of heat is typically extracted, making the system highly efficient and low in carbon. The huge success of the system used in this building is largely due to its installation as part of a new-build (things are less easy when ground-source heat pumps are added to an existing building) and to its operating in conjunction with the E-Stack natural ventilation system. So successful and ‘leading-edge’ is the system that it is currently being considered for an RICS national award.

3. Lighting within Upward has also been designed to cut energy use. A DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) system has been installed throughout the building, allowing light fittings to be energy controlled and programmed. The installation allows greater flexibility, control and servicing benefits and can achieve energy savings of 30-60%.

It is appropriate that we should be showing this generation of children how a high degree of sustainability can provide a wonderfully comfortable and functional building in which to work, whilst also doing what is ethically right and ecologically responsible. Happily the building is also beautiful in its design with a stunning atrium with sandstone floor, central olive tree and children’s artwork and sculpture on display. A child came into the building at the end of the holidays and, gasping, said to her mother: “Wow - this looks like the reception of a Dubai hotel!” Praise indeed.

But it is also designed to inspire children in their studies. A parent has written to say: “Jamie has just called me to say that the new classroom block is amazing and that he just loves going over there each day and having his lessons - even his Latin!” The building has been an outstanding success in every respect, and Port Regis hopes that it will serve to provide an inspirational template for new buildings in other schools, both state and independent, throughout the country.

The project has also allowed Port Regis to complete a 15-year development plan to bring all the academic and cultural life of the school round the lake at the heart of the school and so finally to rationalise the layout of the entire campus. It has been a hugely exciting and satisfying endeavour!