The latest in a new generation of Shropshire schools has been unveiled following the completion of an £8.44m project to provide more sustainable education facilities in the county.
Pave Aways recently handed over the net zero carbon facilities it designed and built at Harlescott Junior School in Shrewsbury to the local education authority, Shropshire Council.
The scheme has allowed the Haughmond Federation to consolidate its infant and primary provision onto one site and included a new nursery setting, 18 classrooms, a pupil support hub, a hall, kitchen, offices and meeting rooms. The existing Victorian school building was also renovated to make it more energy efficient.
The timber frame building, sourced from Lowfield Timber Frames on the Shropshire/Welsh border, benefits from high U values due to the sustainable building methods used and will achieve a BREEAM rating of excellent. It also runs on renewable energy via an air source heat pump and has an array of solar panels to provide electricity.
The build is the latest in a series of low, net or zero carbon projects by Pave Aways, which has completed contracts worth more than £25m in the past two years for local authorities that want to reduce their carbon footprint.
Managing Director Steven Owen said: “This scheme has not only provided state of the art facilities for the education of our future generations, but it has done so in the most sustainable way possible. As a fossil free building, every year its rating will get better and better as it won’t use the carbon that a fossil reliant building requires and, over time, it will add back to the environment with the trees that have been planted.
“Utilising our supply chain of sub-contractors and suppliers based within a 25-mile radius of Shrewsbury has also has a positive effect on the local economy, pumping millions of pounds back into the Shropshire area, and a massive impact on skills in the construction sector.
“As well as our own team developing their knowledge and practical ability in low, net or zero carbon building methods, businesses in our supply chain that have worked with us have learned new skills that they can take away, implement and use on other contracts.”
The contract was a key scheme in support of Shropshire Council’s ambition to deliver more sustainable buildings to meet its 2030 ‘zero’ carbon targets.
