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Indoor air quality in Passivhaus primary schools in the UK: A framework for building performance evaluation
The project is a collaboration between UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, Historic England and Architype.
With the UK Government committed to a reduction of its carbon emissions by 80% compared to the 1990s levels by 2050, reducing the operational energy demand of school buildings through a wider adoption of energy efficiency standards would be a decisive contribution towards achieving this ambitious and legally binding target. The Passivhaus standard is a procurement methodology and certification scheme which aims at delivering energy efficient buildings with low carbon footprint and consistently good indoor air quality (IAQ). Savings in energy are achieved by resolving space heating and ventilation conflicts during the heating season with the use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, combined with high levels of building envelope airtightness and insulation.
Over 10 million children in the UK spend a significant proportion of their time in primary school buildings, making classrooms their second largest source of environmental exposure to airborne pollutants after the home. Exposure to poor IAQ and thermal environmental conditions is known to cause short-term and long-term health problems, and has an impact on attendance and academic performance of children, who are more susceptible to these exposures than adults. Existing studies suggest that primary school buildings in the UK are more densely populated than in other European countries and often fail to meet guidelines in terms of overheating, ventilation rates and indoor air quality indicators, resulting in unsuitable learning environments. And as climate change is likely to lead to higher overheating risk in classroom, higher temperatures in classrooms could further exacerbate indoor air pollution problems in classrooms.
More evidence is needed to assess the indoor environmental performance of Passivhaus school buildings in the UK. This study aims at developing a framework for comprehensive evaluation and benchmarking of Passivhaus school buildings in the UK, at providing comprehensive evidence of their performance and at investigating the influence of design and operational characteristics on the indoor environmental quality in this emerging school building typology. The case study approach adopted in this research project involved the collection and analysis of extensive and detailed monitoring of environmental and air pollution variables in four Passivhaus primary schools in England and in Wales in 2018-19. Findings will feed into school building design, informing best practice guidelines for the procurement, delivery and operation of school buildings that are fit-for-purpose.