Colfe’s School

The brief

Thurston Group was approached the private school, Colfe’s, to deliver a 4 new modular classrooms during 2022.

The specification was to provide a building which would fit in with the school’s look and feel, with plenty of glazing to allow in light, and timber classing for aesthetic reasons.

The challenges

The site was on a slope, and planning conditions needed to be met.

The solution

The project involved groundworks, M&E and air conditioning and Thurston Group worked with the school’s internal contractor to arrange the connections to the existing school. The site was on a slope, so brick plinths were built to ensure the classroom block was on a perfectly level foundation.

During the project Thurston Group were able to offer the possibility for the modular classroom block to become net zero, an option that the school was happy to progress.

The buildings were then made energy positive – in effect being able to contribute to the power needed by the rest of the school during the summer months.

Due to planning conditions and the school’s setting, the exterior walls were finished in a timber and render finish. Thurston Group used aluminium doors and windows to compliance with building regulations.

The new teaching block houses photovoltaic cells on its roof to generate electricity. Each classroom includes a heat recovery ventilation unit to avoid wasting heat in winter. The ventilation units extract hot air from the new classrooms and uses it to preheat the fresh air as it is brought in, ensuring an optimum classroom environment for learning.

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