The Welshpool Church in Wales Primary school is the first Passivhaus school in Powys, and the third Passivhaus school completed in Wales.
Offering exceptional performance of more than 80% better than typical new build primary schools, the new school also brings fantastic health, comfort and wellbeing benefits with excellent air quality, and generous natural light thanks to its Passivhaus design. Students benefit significantly from this enhanced environment, as well as local community members who use school spaces outside of teaching hours.
Thanks to its energy efficient design, annual bills are reduced by £60,000 (based on average energy consumption of Powys schools), savings that can be directly reinvested in additional resources for students, such as equipment or additional staff members. Its high efficiency also contributes to its ecological credentials–the schools reduced energy demand means a reduction in annual operational carbon emissions. Combined with its low embodied carbon design, thanks to its all-timber construction and natural material palette, the school proves that whole life carbon can be vastly reduced with a combined commitment to sustainability targets.
Three Winning Facts:
- Exceptionally low operational energy-allowing the school to save £60,000 on energy bills per year–more than £3.6million in saving over the building’s life.
- Very high performing, with additional Building Performance Monitoring to further enhance building use and efficiency.
- Long-lasting, community asset–low maintenance and helps council meet their sustainability targets with Passivhaus and BREEAM Excellent.
