Learning to be 'Green'

Offsite construction has become accepted and even respected in the education sector over the past few years... the latest technological advances and innovations deliver truly inspirational learning spaces, and they can take us into new realms of genuinely cost–effective environmentally sustainable buildings, argues Martin Goss, MD of Offsite specialists Mtech Consult.

As I write this there is a storm of uncertainty and media speculation surrounding the future of the BSF initiative, but that doesn’t take away the fact that pent-up need for school refurbishment and general changes in UK demographics are generating an enormous demand for new classroom accommodation. Recent estimates by DCSF and PfS indicate there are some 8,000 classrooms yet to be provided across their various programmes alone, not taking into account private schools and Local Authorities outside the BSF programme but which still have an ongoing need for classroom space.

Traditionally much of this classroom accommodation has been provided by the modular building sector: at the last government count there were over 24,000 modular classrooms in use. Historically, this is seen as temporary and sub-standard accommodation with high energy and maintenance costs; however the modular industry has moved a long way since this was the case.

State-of-the-art factory produced classrooms now offer attributes and benefits that more traditionally constructed spaces cannot: Offsite delivers certainty of programme, with less time on site, minimised disruption and a smaller workforce (so fewer CRB worries); work is typically completed during vacation periods to avoid any adverse impact on the curriculum. Combine this with the ability to put buildings onto difficult, confined sites with much more ease than traditional site-based methods and the possibility of re-location when the school's demographics change, and you’ve got a lot of factors all helping to overcome some of today’s economic issues.

Recent innovations can guarantee environmental compliance, with Offsite manufacturers trying harder than ever to make certain that their products exhibit smaller carbon footprints than traditional construction methods, developing systems with real potential to deliver across the whole range of environmental issues, from CO2 emissions to water usage and toxicity creation.

Systems such as Eco Modular Living's eco spaces - refurbishing and converting volumetric steel framed structures - are really exciting advances... who’d have thought you could recycle a complete building! And recently our environmental services experts worked with one client to develop a revolutionary new classroom system which goes much further than simply reducing embodied energy; it effectively requires no net external energy to run... in fact it should provide energy to the grid and thus a source of income for the school!

But important as these advances are, they don’t convey the immense potential that Offsite offers to really change the way we educate our young people.

The provision of new classroom accommodation can help educate and re-train the mindset of our younger generations, involving students in the way we operate and manage their classrooms to reduce the overall environmental impact of the space. With modular buildings, we can build-in the ability for students to capture and measure the carbon emissions of their classroom and affect the building's carbon footprint. It is feasible to make each classroom or group of classrooms a bespoke energy centre to demonstrate and compare relative performances across the school or even throughout the Local Authority.

Offsite has a huge future... it is a cost effective, environmentally sustainable and relatively speedy solution to achieve quality teaching spaces; it can deliver benefits on a smaller scale where funds won’t stretch to a whole school redevelopment... but it’s the potential of Offsite classrooms to change perceptions about how we impact the environment that really should not be underestimated.