Oakfield Special Educational Needs School | Wright & Wright Architects

Oakfield is a new build Special Educational Needs School for students with Social Emotional and Behavioural Dificulties. The school is a significant redevelopment of a former school site in a predominantly residential area, its civic presence asserted both by its set back and materiality. Key moves in the design were; staff dispersal around the plan enabling passive supervision throughout; circulation designed as a continuous loop to prevent dead ends; clear orientation; South facing classrooms to take advantage of the best light and direct access to the playing fields. A key passive design feature is the large proportion of spaces served via Natural Ventilation. The effectiveness of this strategy has been maximised through the inclusion of high-level clerestory windows, which provide the opportunity for cross- flow ventilation to the majority of occupied spaces, along with exposed thermal mass, which further tempers the internal environment. Thermal comfort has been further enhanced through the use of the clerestory windows to provide night-time ventilation. In areas demanding mechanical ventilation, Heat Recovery has been included within the Air Handling Units, enabling heat gains from the spaces to temper the incoming air and thus reduce the energy required from the underfloor heating. This means that heat gains from equipment and occupants may be recovered and used to service the building. Meeting Demand Efficiently Through specification of efficient systems, the energy demand from Oakfield School has been minimised. In conjunction with this, a comprehensive package of automatic controls has been provided which ensure that occupants experience a comfortable environment, with the lowest energy consumption possible. Supplying Green Energy A Biomass boiler has been installed as the primary heat source for heating and hot water at Oakfield School, with Gas Boilers provided as back-up only. Biomass is normally considered as a nearly carbon neutral fuel, as the carbon dioxide emitted during burning has been (relatively) recently absorbed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and no fossil fuel is involved.