The first truly zero-carbon school in the UK, Hackbridge Primary School is in a conservation area of Metropolitan Open Land, not far from the BedZED eco-village in the London Borough of Sutton.
The development includes a primary school building and outdoor amenities including playing pitches, amphitheatres, bicycle storage and car parking, as well as generously landscaped areas.
The school, which accommodates around 420 pupils aged 5-11, is a two-storey, lightweight Larsen truss, timber-framed building. The design brief called for the school to be highly efficient, low energy use and low water consumption, healthy and comfortable. This was achieved by designing a scheme for Passivhaus Plus standards, which required a tight collaboration between all designers to ensure heat loss from the building was minimal. A ground-source heat pump augments the high-efficiency envelope and insulation.
By using a raft foundation to spread the load evenly across the footprint of the building, Price & Myers was able to use the slab’s insulation as formwork. This saved time and meant the building could be completely thermally isolated from the ground.
Our civil engineering team undertook the drainage feasibility study and the flood risk assessment to support the planning application for the new development. The team designed extensive sustainable drainage systems to be combined with the landscaped features.
The landscape strategy required close coordination with the rest of the design team and Greater London Authority. A pond was incorporated into the landscape design which, in addition to improving the aesthetic and habitat value, provided infiltration of the surface water and reduced the risk of flooding.
Completed 2020.
