Keynsham’s new Two Rivers C of E Primary School will be built to high sustainable standards thanks to additional funding from Bath & North East Somerset Council.
The new 420 place school on the Hygge Park development is being delivered by the Department for Education to meet the needs of the town’s growing population.
As part of its commitment to tackle the climate emergency and to ensure the buildings are of the highest quality and environmental standards to achieve Passivhaus accreditation, the council is contributing an additional £835k of S106 funding from developers to the project. The total contribution being made by the council for Passivhaus is £981k and £835k was recently approved towards these funds.
Passivhaus is an international low energy design standard which minimises the environmental impact of buildings and uses the best approaches to ensure energy efficiency.
Councillor Dine Romero, cabinet member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture said: “The new school will serve the local community for decades to come so it’s essential we get the design right and ensure we minimise its impact on the environment. This investment will not only save energy but significantly reduce running costs.”
In order to achieve Passivhaus accreditation a number of changes have been made to the original designs for the new school.
The building will produce its own energy from photovoltaic panels on the roof generating 102,269 kWh annually.
The new school will also incorporate:
- A very airtight form of construction
- High levels of insulation with no thermal bridging
- High performance triple glazed windows and doors with insulated frames
- A mechanical ventilation system incorporating heat recovery systems
- Two electric air source heat pumps
- Low energy building services and equipment
- All electric services (no gas supply to the building)
The new purpose built two-form entry primary school in the heart of the new housing development will be operated by Futura Learning Partnership with the buildings scheduled to open in September 2022.
Tim Howes, chief operating officer, said: “We are delighted that B&NES is providing the funds to ensure that our new buildings for Two Rivers C of E Primary School will meet the Passivhaus Plus standards.
“The decision to build in high levels of energy efficiency is proving wise in the short term, given the massive rise in fuel bills. The use of renewable power sources is also an important investment in our young people and our planet.
“Buildings of such exceptional quality will help our pupils learn and appreciate the importance of protecting our environment for future generations.”
The school is currently based in purpose-built temporary accommodation on the Wellsway School campus.
