Montgomerie Park Primary School, Irvine
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Summary
North Ayrshire Council’s very first Passivhaus primary school
Montgomerie Park accommodates a primary school roll of 342 pupils, and an Early Learning and Childcare class comprising 32 spaces for 3–5-year-olds and 15 spaces for 2-year-olds.
As the first Passivhaus primary in North Ayrshire, the Irvine 12-class school supports the local authority’s Community Wealth Building agenda, and includes new external sports facilities including a 3G football pitch, MUGA and playground area, providing additional amenities to the local community.
342
pupils
60-80%
less energy usage
1st
Passivhaus school in North Ayrshire
Passivhaus construction - adding capacity without adding carbon
The new school uses 60-80% less energy than a typical school building, resulting in carbon reduction, and lower operational costs.
Passivhaus is an environmental standard focused on making sure that buildings produce low carbon once built and throughout their lifecycle.
Passivhaus Classic standard requires specialist input and close collaboration between all members of the design team to achieve a high quality, energy efficient building with good daylighting to provide a comfortable, healthy learning environment.
The high level of thermal efficiency and airtightness requires carefully detailed interfaces which can be realised on site.
The Five key principals of Passivhaus design are:
- Thermal Insulation - low U-values.
- Avoid Thermal Bridging - Continuous lines of insulation and minimising thermal bridging.
- Airtightness - Continuous airtight outer shell with very low leakage rate (0.6 ACH @ 50PA).
- Windows - Triple glazing and insulated window frames.
- Ventilation - Ventilation system with heat recovery to supply consistent, tempered fresh air.
Scotland's lowest ever airtightness result
We carried out seven airtightness tests to pay close attention to detail to the airtightness line, picking up potential sources of leakage such as new services penetrations.
The average test showed air changes of 0.32m3 / h, well below the Passivhaus standard of 0.6 and greatly enhancing the thermal efficiency of the building.
The project team have taken quality performance to another level - something we now do as standard on all of our Passivhaus school projects.
Procurement routes and funding models
The new Montgomerie Park Primary School has been procured through hub South West Scotland – a public-private partnership that enables cost-efficient design and construction of community infrastructure within Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway.
Robertson has many years of experience of supporting and offering a range of procurement routes, from regional and national frameworks to long-term sustainable partnerships. These give public and private sector customers a fast route to delivery, and our uncompromising focus on value and quality.
Our place on national and regional frameworks assures public and private sector customers that we will successfully deliver essential, cost-effective, and high-quality infrastructure, and lasting community benefits.
Funding for the project was secured through the LEIP (Learning Estate Investment Programme). A key element of LEIP funding is an obligation for NAC to demonstrate energy performance in use, and following Passivhaus principles is an ideal way to achieve this.
