Corporate Responsibility

Sustainable schools research project

UK

The Challenge

The UK education sector represents 15% of the public sector's carbon emissions or 2% of total UK emissions (Sustainable Development Commission (2006), Schools Carbon Footprinting - Scoping Study - Final Report). Whilst carbon is only one aspect of a schools environmental impact, it has become a key area of focus in delivering sustainability in the sector through zero carbon schools by 2016. Currently, zero carbon thinking is confined to the "energy used to heat, cool and light the building, together with the energy used to power equipment within the school".

This approach is clearly limited. It excludes carbon emissions beyond those attributable to the energy used within the building. Our view is that this definition is actually “low energy” or “net zero energy” and not truly zero carbon as it excludes non-building sources such as transport emissions and embodied emissions in the goods and services consumed by the school. Delivering a zero carbon school is challenging given the competitive bidding environment focused on cost.

Sustainability in practice then becomes a series of trade-offs between environmental, social and economic factors rather than their effective alignment. The single issue approach to carbon, is often seen as a purely technical issue solved by engineering and construction technologies alone and not looking at longer term “operational impacts” including those influenced by the behavioural aspects of building use. A more holistic approach to sustainability was required.

The Solution

Balfour Beatty has sought to go beyond the limited interpretation of zero carbon and understand what a truly sustainable school actually means across the life cycle and develop approaches that we could apply, in practice, to deliver a sustainable school. Our sustainable schools research project has been undertaken by a team from Balfour Beatty Capital, Balfour Beatty Construction, Mansell, Balfour Kilpatrick and Balfour Beatty WorkPlace. This team represented the full life-cycle from financing through design, building and long-term maintenance.

Research was needed to gain a detailed level understanding of the entire carbon footprint of a school and to apportion the impacts across the construction phase and the operational phase as well gain a wider appreciation of other environmental impacts. The Balfour Beatty Sustainable Schools Research Project team commissioned research to quantify these impacts for a real school project. Further research was also undertaken to capture best practice in delivering sustainable schools both within and outside Balfour Beatty.

Our Progress

Carbon and Ecological Footprinting Study
Portland School in Worksop, Nottinghamshire in the UK was rebuilt in 2008. We commissioned a study to quantify the carbon and ecological footprint of the building during its construction and its operation during its first year of occupation. Ecological footprinting takes a broader view of resource consumption than carbon footprinting by measuring the extent to which natural resources are used faster than they regenerate. Ecological footprints are measured in global hectares (gha) to represent the amount of land required to maintain a particular activity. Construction and Operational footprints were calculated:

The construction of a carbon footprint is largely dictated by the superstructure of the building (concrete and steel). The footprint can be reduced through materials choice and construction methods. The operational footprint of the school was estimated to be approximately a third of the school’s construction footprint. However, over the 25 year PFI contract duration, the construction footprint is only approximately 10% of the annual operational footprint (over the first year of occupation). Large carbon reductions can therefore be achieved by carefully designing schools to reduce long-term operational carbon impacts.

The study showed that when breaking the operational footprint down further, some 40% of the carbon impact comes from electricity and gas use. Hence the current approach in the UK focusing on energy used in the building does not address the remaining 60% from transport, equipment/furniture purchases, consumables, food and waste. Making significant inroads into these carbon sources could make a very significant impact. Possible contributions could come from car sharing schemes, purchasing equipment and consumables with high recycled contents and low energy consumption, improved waste segregation and recycling and reducing the meat and dairy content of school meals.

Ensuring staff and students are aware of these wider impacts and their role in minimising them will be key in achieving significant reductions in carbon such as meeting the Government’s target of 80% reduction by 2050.

Case Studies

Here are just two examples of best practice identified by the project team in the UK.

Howe Dell School, Hatfield, UK

Mansell, a Balfour Beatty company, was the main contractor for the revolutionary Howe Dell School. This is considered to be a pioneering example of best practice and a clear demonstration of how sustainability can positively impact the educational activities of a school. Key sustainability features in the build were: extensive use of timber cladding; recycled materials in furniture and fittings (80% recycled content in carpets); maximised use of natural daylight; use of the thermal mass of the structure to stabilise the temperature of the building; a solar energy system in the playground to absorb heat in the asphalt surface and circulate it into the building; solar panels; a 20kw wind turbine; a sedum roof for insulation and runoff control and rainwater collection tanks beneath the school fields for toilet flushing and irrigation. Studies continue to assess whether the actual sustainability performance achieved meets the design specification.

St Michael’s School, Southwark, London UK

St Michael’s School in the London Borough of Southwark, has been designed to deliver a 72% reduction in carbon emissions compared to a similar school meeting the 2002 Building Regulations. The school will be built by Balfour Beatty Construction on behalf of the Group’s school concession company Transform Schools. The school development will be revolutionary in its low energy design and technologies used. These include 14 ground source heat pumps, a biomass boiler, a 40m² photovoltaic array as well as passive energy saving technologies such as natural ventilation where possible, exploiting exposed thermal mass (concrete) in the classroom and building orientation to benefit from solar gain.

Sedum roof – close up

Asphalt play area used as solar absorbing surface

Next Steps

A key lesson arising from the study is the need to embed sustainability thinking in a project as early as possible in the planning and design stage. Retrofitting sustainable solutions during the construction phase is difficult. Engagement of key stakeholders, including the customer and users, within Balfour Beatty operating companies, project partners and supply chains early and is critical.

We will continue to improve our understanding of wider carbon and ecological impacts of schools, share best practice and in particular develop tools to deliver sustainable schools in practice.

Spreading the word about environmental care

During the summer of 2008, Balfour Beatty Rail’s Signalling Solutions (SSL) Project Team at Milton Keynes invited the children of Milton Keynes to enter an environmental painting / collage competition. The aim of the competition was to raise the children’s awareness of current environmental issues.

The Primary School children’s subject was Protected Species i.e. how badgers, great crested newts and other species relate to the railway embankment as part of their natural habitat. The Secondary School children’s subject was The Carbon Footprint i.e. how travelling by train helps to reduce carbon emissions.

Over 50 entries were received all of a very high standard. A panel of judges, which composed of Network Rail and SSL personnel, selected the 12 winning paintings / collages. The winning paintings / collages were turned into posters, T-Shirts and a calendar.

At a prize giving day hosted by presenters from the local radio station, the children received their prizes the sponsors. The main prize for the overall winner was a family trip to EuroDisney.

The calendar has been entered in the Network Rail Environmental Awards.