Education

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham was the guest of honour at the opening of one of the UK’s most eco-friendly school buildings.

The Rt Rev Paul Butler was at the National School in Hucknall to officially open The Green Building, a modular classroom structure that features state-of-the-art solar and insulation products developed by Blue Planet Buildings.

The Bishop was joined by council officials, representatives from the local community, pupils, and people involved in the construction of the building.

Derick Wilson, CEO and founder of Blue Planet Buildings, commented: “It is a great moment not just for the school itself but for the whole modular industry. This school building combines best practice modular building with solar technology and it’s never been done before in the UK.

“It rates as high as you can get on the energy performance certificate and means that standards that will come into force in years to come are already being met. I am grateful to the school and all those involved in the project for taking the initiative and setting the standards for others to follow.”

Each of the 112 solar panels that line the roof of the building produce on average 1.2kW of electricity a day, estimated to be worth around £18,500 per year when sold to the National Grid.

The solar panels are managed in the plant room housed within the building, which captures data on energy usage and light conditions, providing detailed reports via graphical interfaces, and includes a meter displaying electricity efficiency, also ideal educational resources.

National School head teacher Dr. John Edwards commented: “The purpose of a school first and foremost is of course to educate, and in order to deliver the high quality learning that we aspire to, we have to allocate our budget wisely.

“Going green is often seen by schools and similar organisations as a luxury that they can’t afford. Blue Planet Buildings gave us the opportunity to marry our need for cost-effective, flexible teaching space with our environmental values.”

www.blueplanetbuildings.com