Scotland’s first Passivhaus-certified Primary School records outstanding first year energy performance results

A first-year assessment of Riverside Primary School, Scotland’s first Passivhaus-certified primary school, has revealed actual energy operational performance to be significantly below the Passivhaus primary energy demand target while consistently providing excellent comfort levels.

With an Energy Use Intensity value of just 43 kWh/sqm/annum, Riverside Primary School is demonstrating strong energy performance. Contributing to the exceptional standards with energy-efficient hot water provision are Baxi’s Heatrae Sadia point-of-use electric water heaters.

Riverside Primary School is part of Perth & Kinross Council's capital programme of school upgrades and improvements through hub East Central Scotland Limited. Perth & Kinross Council appointed BakerHicks Motherwell to provide mechanical and electrical design services on the project for principal contractor Robertson Tayside.

In Scotland, local authorities are required to pay upfront for the delivery of new schools, with Scottish Government providing funding through the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) on an outcomes-based funding approach over 25 years. Projects receiving funding need to meet a clear delivered energy target of 67kWh/m2/yr for core hour/facilities with energy performance and outcome monitored at set intervals. Where the energy target is not achieved in full, funding is reduced correspondingly.

David Coulter, Associate Engineer and Certified Passivhaus Designer at BakerHicks said: “Achieving the energy target was absolutely crucial both to achieve Passivhaus accreditation and to ensure SFT funding for the Council.

“When designing the system, the hot water strategy was one of the main challenges as we needed to avoid large scale energy usage and heat losses,” he continued. “We wanted to explore using all-electric point-of-use solutions that would only generate energy when required, for example during break or lunch times, so we spoke to Baxi.”

Point-of-use electric water heaters can be an efficient solution to an immediate supply of hot water for washbasins and kitchen areas in buildings like schools. Installing a point-of-use water heater like Baxi’s Heatrae Sadia Multipoint that incorporates anti-legionella functionality, water pasteurisation and anti-tamper design, will ensure that water is adequately stored, cycled and distributed.

Baxi's Heatrae Sadia point-of-use electric water heaters saving energy efficiently at the Riverside Primary School, Scotland’s first Passivhaus-certified school

Baxi’s technical sales and specification team worked with David to identify the selection of Heatrae Sadia water heaters that would efficiently meet the hot water demand across the building.

“We had used Heatrae Sadia products before and were familiar with their reputation for high-quality, robust performance,” continued David. “A key benefit of these water heaters is that the units are sized, thereby providing more flexibility to meet the required volume. This meant that we could look to design down to avoid oversizing, where appropriate, and so ensure the most efficient operational performance.”

To achieve Passivhaus certification, Riverside Primary School needed to undergo a rigorous quality assurance compliance process to ensure the targets would be met.

“It was an exacting process,” David explained. “We needed to supply detailed calculations and evidence relating to the energy values of the selected technologies. And this is where we really relied on Baxi for technical support. They were great, working closely with us to provide all the information required for certification and ready to help at every stage of the project.”

With the recent report on energy operational performance demonstrating the success of the solution, BakerHicks now use this design as a template for future projects, even where Passivhaus standards are not applied.

David said: “We are pleased to see these energy results and are delighted that the building is operating far more efficiently than initially projected. The data shows significantly lower energy consumption which demonstrates the importance of strong operational performance and effective energy management. The client team and end users have adapted well to the Passivhaus strategies, learning valuable lessons learned along the way. This marks a promising step forward for future projects and building services solutions.”

Anne Wraith, Head of Commercial Product Sales at Baxi, said: “The very low heat losses of our Heatrae Sadia products were a key component in the overall project. We are extremely proud to have played a part in this ground-breaking Passivhaus primary school and at the outstanding energy results achieved.”

The architect, lead consultant and Passivhaus designer was Architype, the project manager was hub East Central Scotland, the principal contractor was Robertson Tayside, and the M&E installing contactor was FES in Stirling.

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Scotland’s first Passivhaus-certified Primary School records outstanding first year energy performance results

A first-year assessment of Riverside Primary School, Scotland’s first Passivhaus-certified primary school, has revealed actual energy operational performance to be significantly below the Passivhaus primary energy demand target while consistently providing excellent comfort levels.

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