Monodraught provides an education in natural services
Natural ventilation and daylight are provided to a new school in Rochdale using Monodraught Windcatcher and Sunpipe systems. The company worked with educational building consultancy and approved DCSF advisor NPS North West for Woodland Community Primary School.
This new school is an amalgamation of three primary schools and has capacity for 420 children up to the age of 12, including 26 places in a Surestart Centre nursery class.
A total of 13 Windcatchers, each 800 mm square, has been installed. There is one in each of the eight first-floor classrooms, the training area, teaching area, a meeting and community area and two reception classrooms on the second floor.
450 mm-diameter Sunpipes were installed in the Surestart Centre to illuminate the areas of the large nursery room that are away from windows. A 300 mm-diameter Sunpipe was also fitted in a designated quiet area, since they provide a soothing and calming effect on children.
Terry Blackburn of NPS explains, ‘The use of natural solutions is actively promoted within current regulations applying to Building Schools for the Future, so Monodraught Windcatcher natural-ventilation systems and Sunpipe natural daylighting system were included in the specification and approved by the council.
‘As schools tend to have classrooms with single-sided ventilation, Monodraught Windcatchers are a very effective means of bringing ventilation into interior spaces and provide an easily achievable solution that is both variable and controllable.’
To enhance the visual aspect of the building and add interest to an otherwise plain roof, the Windcatcher systems were produced in two shades of grey, one to match and one to contrast with the roof colour.
