Pupils lead the way in sustainable school design
16.07.10
An intensive project to engage pupils, teachers and governors to develop an essential understanding of sustainable development within education, is currently underway with De Montfort University and members of the Leicester BSF Design Team.
Leicester City Council and its partners recently launched their vision to transform Leicester into Britain’s sustainable city over the next 25 years and have developed a ‘Strategy for Change’ which sets out their vision for secondary education and plans for investment through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
As part of the Strategy for Change aspiration, a number of research academics at De Montfort University, led by Dr Fiona Charnley, are working towards the design of more sustainable schools within Leicester.
The 3 year project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), involves pupils, teachers, governors and members of the local authority in the development of energy efficient schools and the application of sustainability into live education building schemes, as part of a larger project involving the development of low-energy schools.
So far the research project has involved students from eight schools involved in the Leicester BSF scheme including Crown Hills, Rushey Mead, Moat, St Paul’s, English Martyrs, Children’s Hospital School, Judge Meadow and Beaumont Leys School.
Leading M&E Consulting Engineers, Hulley & Kirkwood (H&K) who are part of the Leicester BSF Design Team, have been working closely with De Montfort University and local students in order to help increase their understanding of what is involved in making a school more sustainable.
Educational activities have included visiting the Leicester Phase 1 BSF existing low-energy/high BREEAM rated schools, workshops headed up by Leicester BSF Design Team representatives to learn about the key principles of designing a low-energy school, and thermal imaging sessions to evaluate the energy efficiency of their existing school buildings.
De Montfort University and H&K have assisted pupils with information in which to provide research and evaluation material for activities such as podcasts, videos, PowerPoint presentations and newsletters in which to disseminate what they have learnt to their peers and teachers and to help them communicate their requirements for their new schools to designers and policy makers.
Pupils from Rushey Mead School and Crownhills School, both of which are part of phase 2 developments for Leicester BSF, were given the opportunity to present and discuss their ideas with designers and architects at the EBDOG (Education Building and Development Officers Group) Conference.
Andrew Harris, Associate with H&K and a member of the Leicester BSF Design Team, has been reviewing the student’s project work and assisting with their understanding of how the school’s potential carbon footprint has been applied to the school design thus far, as well as advising on how the M&E aspect was approached.
Mr Harris comments: “Having listened to the excellent presentations given by each of the student groups I was astounded by their grasp of both their understanding of the subject and their passion for the integration of renewable technologies in their new school. It was obvious that a great deal of high quality research has been carried out by all participants which resulted, not only in excellent presentation work on a variety of technologies, but furthermore a challenging question and answer session. It is encouraging to see that pupils of such a young age can engage in a mature debate and who are likely to develop into our next generation of high quality engineers.”
Research Fellow at De Montfort University, Dr Fiona Charnley, said:
“When facilitating the engagement activities we are always impressed with how enthusiastic the pupils are about the sustainable development of their new school. Pupils readily understand and work with complex and advanced ideas such as ventilation and insulation strategies. The ideas that they come up with themselves are exciting and inspirational. They are a credit to their schools!”
One student from English Martyrs Catholic School who has been involved in the research project commented:
“I enjoyed being part of it, we are here to help the re-building of our school community and I feel very emotional about that. Just think that in the near future we will be the reason we have that particular school” (Eloise, 13 years).
