Bristol school completed with HVC Natural Ventilation components

Staff and pupils enjoy reduced running costs and increased comfort

Built under the now cancelled schools rebuilding program, Abbeywood Community School is a thoroughly modern building, designed to replace the adjacent 50 year old Filton High School.

Intended to provide the education needs of over 900 pupils ranging in ages from 11 to 18, the school's designers had to not only ensure the needs of pupils and staff were being met, but guarantee the building itself was environmentally sound and cost effective to run.

A major crossover point for both of these requirements was the ventilation system: Stale, carbon dioxide rich air within classrooms is proven to lower pupils concentration, and whilst traditional powered ventilation systems can negate this problem, they are also energy hungry, not what was required.

It was decided early on in the project that a natural ventilation system should be used. Using only the natural forces of buoyancy and pressure differentials to circulate air within a building, an entire building can be ventilated using a fraction of the energy required to run a traditional powered system.

The building's designers eventually settled on using a stack system. Utilising warm air's buoyancy, warm, stale air rises to the ceiling where it escapes through an outlet grille. In the process this pulls in fresh air from outside through a grille placed near to the floor. This constant circulation can be powered by the sun's warmth, heat given off by occupants or specially placed heating coils.

HVC were chosen by the HVAC contractor to supply all necessary equipment to operate the system.

This included:

31 high performance penthouse louvres, Series HPHL:
- Equipped with a double bank of vertical channels behind the louvre blades and a slanted drip cill, high performance penthouse louvres offer Class A levels of rain protection in natural ventilation systems.
- To allow the simultaneous intake of fresh air and expulsion of stale air through each unit, each penthouse louvre was also equipped with an insulated internal divider, effectively creating two penthouse louvres from one.
- Louvre doors, all equipped with key locks and rustproof stainless steel hinges were also fitted, allowing maintenance staff to inspect dampers and louvre internals easily.
1 natural ventilation tower:
- Required to sit above the level of a neighbouring roof, this 4.5m high fabricated steel tower was fully insulated and supported another high performance penthouse louvre so it was exposed to fresh, moving air.
62 ultra high shut off uPVC volume control dampers:
- Chosen for their extreme resistance to corrosion, ultra high shut off and excellent thermal insulation properties, all were equipped with Belimo modulating motors, allowing staff to adjust precisely the amount of fresh air being pulled into classrooms.

Combined, these components have provided an integrated natural ventilation system, bringing low running costs and a better working environment to the school, it's staff and pupils.

Date added: 19/01/2011