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ROTHERHITHE PRIMARY SCHOOL, LONDON
TIMBER DETAILS
Carefully detailed Scandinavian timber has been used to bring warmth to areas like the main stair
minimise disruption to the school. “This creative approach to site planning ensured the project budget was focussed on permanent works with a tangible ongoing benefit to the community, rather than on temporary works and accommodation,” says Roberts.
Sustainability
Sustainability considerations began with FCBStudios’ approach to the site, following the ‘school within a garden’ concept. The green ribbon around the school is imagined as an extension of Southwark Park. The garden creates a habitat corridor, but also offsets the urban heat island effect through use of trees and greenery, reducing rainwater run-off and creating an attractive outlook from surrounding homes.
Ground floor levels of the building were raised to future-proof against projected flood risk. Some smaller hard standing areas passively drain on to larger, soft areas. Permeable surfacing materials such as rubbercrumb (made from scrap tyres), bark mulch, and MUGA (multi-use games area) surfacing also reduce run-off.
The planting palette is drought-resistant to minimise watering requirements to only the harshest droughts and safeguard
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the landscape’s future. A wide variety of drought and heat-resistant tree species now thrive including Cercis, Parrotia, Gleditsia and Koelreuteria, preventing future loss from disease threats, whilst creating playground shade and learning interest for the children. Following the ‘energy hierarchy’ within the London Plan, the design focused on limiting energy consumption, and thereby carbon emissions, and employed a fabric-first approach. This was enhanced by passive and active energy efficiency measures, informed by “early-stage energy analysis” to predict energy usage and carbon emissions and ensure that GLA’s mandatory requirement of 35% fewer carbon emissions than Building Regulations was met.
Alongside these passive measures, the technological specification for the school includes active elements such as heat recovery through a localised MVHR system with “highly-efficient” controls. There is also an approximately 70 m² rooftop photovoltaic (PV) array, augmenting the energy provided by a gas-fired absorption heat pump and highly-efficient low NOX condensing gas fired boilers. They serve a heating circuit with a flow of 70°C and 50°C return
ADF MAY 2024
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