FEATURE FOCUS: SUSTAINABILITY
makes it much easier to monitor, measure and control hot water usage as well as keeping any hot water pipework runs to an absolute minimum to avoid heat transfer losses.
Baxi’s Public Health technical sales and specification team, headed up by Stephen Lynch, worked with David to identify the selection of equipment required to meet the hot water demand efficiently at Riverside Primary. In total, seven Heatrae Sadia Multipoint 15 units, six Multipoint Eco 30, three Hotflo 10, two Hotflo 15, 24 Aquaheat 7 as well as a Megaflo Eco cylinder have been installed within the new school building.
“We had used Heatrae Sadia products before and were familiar with their reputation for high- quality, robust performance,” continued David. “A key benefit of these water heaters is that the units are sized, thereby providing more flexibility to meet accurately the required volume. But equally importantly is the excellent technical and aftersales support that we know we can expect from the Baxi team – and which proved invaluable on this project.”
Educational process
Delivering a lower energy project like Riverside Primary can call for outside-the-box thinking to achieve the most energy-efficient hot water design strategy. Reducing the kilowatt rating and capacity, increasing control and lowering flow rates will be just some of the design considerations.
Selecting products with enhanced controls can also help with energy management. Water heaters like the Heatrae Sadia Multipoint Eco, for example, are supplied with a smart thermostat in addition to integral time controls. This allows them to learn over a period of time the pattern of hot water usage in a building. For a school, this might be when it needs the first draw of hot water in the morning, or when the building is closed.
The Passivhaus concept can therefore be an educational process for school estates managers as well as designers, as they will be encouraged to rethink the hot water consumption in their buildings to prioritise energy savings.
Achieving Passivhaus certification While not all Passivhaus buildings are certified, achieving certification is the best way to demonstrate that it meets the exemplary standards. However, it is a rigorous quality assurance compliance process that includes tests to ensure the targets are met. Certification is only issued by the accredited independent Passivhaus certifier if the defined criteria are achieved. The certifier for the Riverside Primary School project was WARM.
“It’s an exacting process,” David explained. “We needed to supply detailed calculations and evidence relating to the energy values of the selected technologies. And this is where we really relied on Baxi for support. They were great, working closely with us to provide all the information required for certification and ready to help at every stage of the project.” With Passivhaus certification successfully achieved, Riverside Primary School opened its doors to pupils earlier this year. And Perth and Kinross Council has achieved its commitment to enhance education provision for children north of Perth and taken a step closer to its net zero
December 2023
www.education-today.co.uk 39 carbon ambitions.
“The very low heat losses of our Heatrae Sadia products were a key component in the overall project,” said Baxi’s Stephen Lynch. “As embodied carbon is increasingly a focus alongside operational efficiency, having TM65 certificates available for our Multipoint water heaters is an added advantage. We are extremely proud to have played a part in this ground-breaking Passivhaus primary school.”
The architect, lead consultant and Passivhaus designer was Architype, the project manager was hub East Central Scotland, the principal contractor was Robertson Tayside, and the M&E installing contractor was FES in Stirling.
Benefits of Passivhaus for schools On the surface, Passivhaus school buildings will look no different to other schools. But their future proof design, optimised for net zero, results in ultra-low energy usage and an excellent indoor environment.
Effectively, energy efficiency is achieved passively by the building itself, hence the name. The building design will typically include thick insulation and triple glazing to prevent heat losses while strategic shading to avoid overheating and orientation of the windows for maximum solar gain will optimise comfort levels and lower heat demand. The result in a building that is comfortable all year round with minimal energy usage – typically 80% lower than in a standard building – and carbon emissions.
So how does this benefit schools in particular? First it assists with the need to manage tight budgets. Heating and hot water typically make up a large proportion of most schools’ costs while representing the main source of energy use in their buildings.
Next, it supports wellbeing and productivity. Schools have a duty of care to meet thermal
comfort needs and ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of students and teachers. Last but not least, it helps schools meet sustainability goals and lead by example. Climate change is the most important challenge of our generation and schools have a vital role to play in influencing and informing future generations.
Mind the energy performance gap The uptake of Passivhaus has been particularly notable in Scotland where 35 Passivhaus schools are underway, including Riverside Primary School for Perth and Kinross Council. One reason for the increased uptake in Passivhaus is attributed to the funding model from the Scottish Future Trust for schools. The Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) requires projects to meet stringent energy targets that must be proven using building post- occupancy monitoring.
Rigorous and continual quality verification, which has to be evidenced to achieve independent certification, means that Passivhaus buildings operate as predicted. This eliminates any performance gap between predicted energy efficiency levels at the design stage and real- world operation. Additionally, as funding may be reduced based on any performance gap post-completion, it avoids any risks of securing funding.
The Scottish government is also committed to introducing new minimum environmental design standards for all new build housing by 2024 to meet a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard in order to improve energy efficiency and thermal performance.
https://www.heatraesadia.com/products/ cylinders-and-hot-water/electric-unvented- storage/multipoint
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