Designing Timber issue 10 for online - Flipbook - Page 58
———— SAFE SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE ————
UNDERSTANDING
with biobased materials
and e昀케cient ventilation can
reduce harmful volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) by 60%.
Passivhaus-certi昀椀ed schools
achieve low CO2 levels – well
below the recommended
maximum limits – thus
signi昀椀cantly improving air
quality and demonstrate lower
indoor PM2.5 levels.
Furthermore, visual
connections to natural materials
like timber have been shown
to have calming e昀昀ects on
students, with improved
learning outcomes. Studies
have shown that poor indoor air
quality can signi昀椀cantly impact
children’s health and academic
performance. Monitoring indoor
environments in schools is
important in evaluating design
e昀昀ectiveness and occupant
comfort, and should encompass
temperature, pollutants, and
occupant perceptions to assess
building performance.
Key points
• A performance-based approach to design can better suit high
performance, low impact school buildings
• Timber frame can be demonstrated to be protected in the 昀椀re scenarios
for over 60 minutes
• Combining bio-based materials with e昀케cient building fabric and systems
can deliver signi昀椀cantly healthier classrooms
• Construction costs can be equal or lower than industry average costs
• Operational energy is 65% lower than averages for England
• Embodied carbon is well below RIBA and NZCBS limits
• While approaches and principles can be project-generic, highperformance, low-impact solutions must be project-speci昀椀c
Low embodied carbon
Zero Carbon Building Standard
limits. Safe Schools encourages
the use of local materials and
recycling to further reduce
ecological impacts.
The case study schools all
use low-carbon materials to
reduce ecological footprints.
Timber and other biobased
materials are preferred
both for their lower carbon
emissions and their ability to
sequester carbon.
The schools achieved
embodied carbon emissions
of 60% below the UK Net
Construction costs and
operational energy
←
Timber
cladding on
the Passivhaus
primary school
Ysgol Parc y
Tywyn. The
school provides
350 children
from the Burry
Port area with
an outstanding
learning
environment;
© Phil Boorman.
There are 昀椀nancial bene昀椀ts
in adopting the Safe Schools
approach. Construction costs
for the case study schools
have been as low as 19% below
industry averages.
Furthermore, a fabric-昀椀rst
approach can minimize energy
consumption, leading to lower
long-term operational costs.
Schools can save approximately
£50,000 annually in energy bills
due to more e昀케cient building
designs. Operational energy
use in the case study schools is
65% lower than the average for
schools in England.
Fire safety and
performance-based design
Safe Schools provides an
excellent summary of Building
Regulations and Approved
Document B (AD:B) in terms
of large timber buildings
and modern methods of
construction; warning that
DESIGNING TIMBER
58
NOV/DEC 2025
