St Katherine’s School is committed to providing a sustainable environment for the students and staff as well as the wider community that will be able to make use of the new restaurant facilities. This commitment is demonstrated by the their recent Eco-Schools Bronze Award and has been a key design driver for the proposed development which aims to ensure both excellent environmental performance and promote a healthy sustainable lifestyle for all involved with the new facility.

 

The school is working with their Food for Life Partners on a five year initiative to revolutionise school meals, reconnect young people with where their food comes from, and inspire families to grow and cook food. The new facility is a vital component in ensuring that this vision can reach its full potential.

 

Our proposal aims to achieve this in the following ways:

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1. Food and Drink

An unhealthy diet contributes to obesity and poor health, as well as poor concentration and performance. In contrast, a school that procures healthy, ethically sourced food can offer nutritional benefits, and improve pupils’ understanding of food and where it comes from, while also protecting the environment and supporting local producers and suppliers. This is the core component of the new facility and is embraced through the design of the building and landscape.

2. Passive design:

Well insulated and air tight building fabric; the design maximises natural light whilst ensures good solar control through external shading.

3. Waste reduction: 

Highly efficient condensing boiler for the high hot water demand; rainwater harvesting for external use; top energy rated appliances, water efficient fittings, and energy efficient luminaires and associated lighting control.

4. Renewable energy: 

Energy from renewable sources will help to reduce the energy demands of the building in order to reduce carbon emissions. This includes using air source heat pumps and heat exchanger for space heating and cooling (MVHR), together with solar thermal panels to supplement hot water demand.