A Sustainable Approach

No building project should ignore our collective responsibility to protect the future of the planet and nowhere is this more relevant for the next generation than in our schools. The approach to sustainability was carefully balanced against the impact on the heritage asset. The prime aspiration was to preserve and prolong the life of this important heritage asset, ensuring its long-term enjoyment, accessibility, and functionality for many generations to come.

Reuse of materials was paramount to establishing a high-quality interior, where continuity of the finish was key, alongside the preservation of historic fabric.

Chapels by their nature tend to be large open volumes and difficult to heat and insulate. Floor insulation, installed during re-laying works, enabled 40% of the chapel to be insulated. Plans are in place to supplement this in the future by insulating the roof during future conservation phases.

The existing building relied on an inefficient heating system of hot air blown through floor vents. The new approach focuses on heating people rather than the space, achieved through a simple system of running heat emitters discretely under the pews, providing low levels of heat where it is needed. This also provides significant benefits to the longterm conservation of the building fabric and artefacts. ●