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Ref: 173/06 25 May 2006
A Golden Green Apple Award For Cheshire’s Sustainable Schools
Three of Cheshire’s leading eco-friendly schools have won Cheshire County Council an international ‘gold’ standard award for their contribution to improving the environment.
The schools – Kingsmead Primary at Northwich, Wistaston Green Primary at Crewe and Hoole Primary, Chester - secured the foremost gold standard in the 2006 Green Apple Award, an international campaign that recognises, rewards and promotes benefits or improvements to the environment.
In one of his last official engagements, Cheshire County Council Chairman, Councillor Barrie Hardern together with Environmental Planning Officer Stuart Roberts, received the award and congratulations from celebrity environmentalist and naturalist David Bellamy in a ceremony at Kensington Roof Garden, London.
The brief for the 2006 Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Our Architectural Heritage required that three new schools should promote sustainable development.
The projects had to demonstrate an integrated approach to the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of the communities being served, now and for future generations.
The school buildings are built to last until 2060 during which period the UK should see warmer, wetter winters; hotter, drier summers, increased extreme rainfall and increased wind speeds.
Accordingly designs feature extensive use of natural ventilation, use of rainwater to flush toilets, solar panels to provide hot water and energy, wind powered generators, recycled building materials, even under cover parent waiting areas to encourage walking and cycling to school
The first project at Kingsmead aimed to be a sustainability benchmark and provide stimulus for public and private sector projects in Cheshire and beyond.
Kingsmead School design broke new ground in sustainable design and construction innovation, and is now Cheshire’s exemplar contribution to the Department for Education and Skills’ (DfES) Schools for the Future initiative.
The ethos of sustainability is featured in every aspect of the design, from orientation on the site to the selection of natural materials, the use of natural ventilation and daylight techniques and landscaping.
The £2.4 million project, a seven class, 210 place school, opened for the start of the new education year in September 2004. It was the first sustainable school in Cheshire, setting the standards for future developments.
Wistaston Green School was a second project to follow the principles of sustainable construction, a £2.5 million new school built in the grounds of the old school which were subsequently demolished and landscaped.
The latter project gained from the Kingsmead construction experience and included a highly insulated, laminated timber frame structure utilising a part render, part timber external facade. The project included a large solar thermal scheme, and a building mounted wind turbine.
Hoole Primary School, a major extension and refurbishment project, also embraced the sustainable construction ethos with timber and natural daylight a key element of the design.
The three projects have resulted in the development of a Sustainable Construction Policy, and will stimulate future design options for Cheshire County Council projects.
Councillor Hardern was delighted at the acknowledgement of Cheshire’s expertise. He said, “It was a great privilege for us to be able to receive the award on behalf of Cheshire County Council and the teams behind the development of all three schools.
“The environment and energy conservation have been keynotes of my own term of office as county Chairman so it gave double pleasure to see Cheshire honoured with a Gold award.”
Note to Editors: Further details are available from Cheshire County Council’s Environmental Planning Officer Stuart Roberts (Tel. 01244 603358). |