Scoop Part of School Refurbishment Budget

Published by Angela May for Glidevale Ltd in Education

Glidevale is helping the building industry scoop part of £2billion Government funding for school refurbishment and extension programmes with an option that delivers a cost-effective solution for contractors and school operators.

 The latest funds are to enable schools to address priority building condition needs, and extensions to cater for students places affected by demographic changes. Research shows that over as little as a decade, a typical rooflight will lose up to 90% of its potential light transmission, prompting increased reliance on electrical lighting and thus energy consumption and carbon emissions, unless replaced. Further, Department for Education Building Bulletin 90 states ‘Unless over-riding reasons for not doing so, the school designer should assume daylight will be the prime means of lighting’.

 Glidevale’s comprehensive range of in-plane and tubular rooflights- Metrodome and Sunscoop™- provide up to 98% transmission of natural daylight into a building. Suitable for new-build and refurbishment, they are quick and easy to install. Once installed, even the smallest (250mm dia) Sunscoop tubular rooflight gives four times the light into the area below as a single 60W incandescent bulb (13w low energy lamp), without any electrical use.

 Lord Grey School in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, was originally built in the 1950s, and is now fully subscribed, with over 14500 pupils. As a result, there was a need to not only upgrade but provide additional learning space, particularly for science. The solution has been to refurbish the existing laboratories, and construct a new single storey steel frame building abutting the existing science block to create two additional labs.

 The location of the new building, forming a link between the main school and separate science laboratories, meant there was little opportunity to include appropriate-sized windows to provide a natural light source. Thus, six Glidevale Sunscoop tubular rooflights were installed into the new annex, each 350mm dia with additional light attenuating dampers and low energy light bulbs.

 Tom Tate-Williams, of Milton Keynes Council, commented, “We now have a total of 11 laboratories, all of which meet or exceed guidelines regarding size. We hope the upgrade and new work will help us achieve a BREEAM rating of at least ‘good’ for the school, which is an achievement when working with an ageing building.

 “The Sunscoops in the extension will mean the pupils and teaching staff have a good source of natural light, which they can control to ensure they can work well, without solar glare, even on the darkest winter days.”

 Sunscoop and Metrodome rooflights ensure adequate natural light with no energy consumption, and no maintenance and replacement of parts. Further, Metrodome glazing and Sunscoop glazing and flashings are AA fire rated, enabling unrestricted use on a roof regardless of proximity of adjacent buildings.They are an integral part of Glidevale’s comprehensive range of rooflighting and roof ventilation solutions for the building industry, developed to create innovative solutions for changing market demands.