Project Details

The Challenge

How do you design a building for improved environmental performance, when the building type itself is already low impact compared with most other kinds of buildings? Is it even fair to compare different building types? An examination of Buxton Public School provides insights into such dilemmas.

The advance of energy and resource efficiency of public schools is lodged in an economic history. Because the NSW state government funds the building, operation and maintenance of schools it has a vested interest in keeping costs down. This economic driver means that the design parameters of public schools are already low impact: materials and finishes are chosen for durability rather than appearance, air conditioning is generally not supplied, heating is by gas and hot water is not provided for the majority of the occupants, the pupils.

The NSW Department of Education and Training, who are responsible for commissioning new schools, has an equity policy whereby the same standard of facilities are to be provided to communities across the whole state. To meet this criteria, schools are designed according to a Component Design Range (CDR) of standardised plans, materials and elements developed by NSW Department of Public Works and Services. This range is large enough to provide flexibility in terms of selection of components and how they are combined. It also allows for adaptation to local conditions, which means that all schools will not end up looking the same.

The ambition for Buxton Public School was to improve on the CDR and to design buildings and facilities which could serve as a new benchmark for environmentally low impact school design. This way the CDR could evolve, with successful initiatives able to be incorporated into future schools. Buxton therefore provides an example of incremental improvement.

There were some site specific constraints on the kind of construction that could be undertaken. There were also budget limits, a prior decision having been made that the environmental initiatives must not add more than 5% to the cost compared to a public school of the same size. For these reasons, standard domestic type construction was chosen: timber frame and brick veneer on a concrete slab. But significant modifications were undertaken to make this typeform perform better thermally, including airflow management by stack-assisted natural ventilation, effective insulation of walls and roof, daylighting and timers on heaters and lights.

Additional environmental building innovations were applied: collection and re-use of storm water; low impact fit-out materials and the inclusion of a small photovoltaic system to provide some of the electricity needs. All these measures which could be undertaken for similar size residential and commercial developments, thus the design of Buxton School provides lessons beyond just the design of schools.

Project Information

1. Building type: Primary School

2. Building area: 2,170m2, all new build

3. Number of occupants: 235 (225 children, 10 adults)

4. Nature of occupancy: 7 hours a day, 195 days a year

5. Number of storeys: one

6. Building address: Hassall Road, Buxton NSW 2571

7. Owner: NSW Department of Education and Training

8. Building cost: $2,362,660 in total and $1,098m2

9. Completion date: January 1998