27 : TOWARDS ZERO CARBON SCHOOLS
Towards Zero Carbon Schools

This project has been designed to support the £45 billion project to rebuild or upgrade all 3,500 secondary schools in England and Wales before 2020, which has come under fierce attack from a powerful cross-party group of MPs for failing to set an example on sustainable construction. T

he UK Government has stated that the third wave of school building programme should result in 2,000 carbon neutral schools. This would enable the UK to reduce carbon dioxide emission by 8 million tons over 10 years, while providing an indoor environment which should have a positive impact on pupils’ performance and learning outcome. However, based on recent evidence, new schools are failing to achieve the expected targets related to both energy consumption and indoor air quality.

The problems related to reduction of carbon emission and indoor air quality in newly built schools will be discussed at a specially-convened fringe event to the CIBSE/ASHRAE Conference on Sustainability- in Newcastle, 29-30 April 2008. A selected panel of experts will address and facilitate discussions on school design issues.

This collaborative project between UCL and CIBSE School Design Group aims to foster long-term knowledge exchange and partnership between stakeholders working on sustainable school design, construction and maintenance.

The long-term legacy of this project is fostering the building of sustainable schools which can act as a catalyst for their local communities.