Xpelair - leaders in ventilation and air-movement, has drawn on its 50 years of expertise to support the Governments multi-billion pound ‘building schools for the future’ project. The launch of Xpelair’s ‘PassivAir’ system for schools is showcased in a new dedicated brochure available now, including on line at www.schoolsforthefuture.co.uk
“The Government has committed to an ambitious programme of renewal to transform the learning environment in our schools” said Richard Scott for Xpelair. Adding “This is not just about the construction of new, modern buildings with state of the art facilities; the programme touches every aspect of better design shown to have a positive effect on pupil achievement, including heating, cooling and ventilation.”
The Department for Education and Skill’s Building Bulletin 101, which is quoted in the latest Building Regulations, provides details of the Building Schools for the Future requirements, including the ventilation standards now expected in schools.
“Xpelair PassivAir systems are designed to satisfy all of the criteria specified, reducing energy costs by up to 40% and significantly reducing carbon emissions” said Mr. Scott, citing the example of the futuristic Bridge School in Islington.
“The whole school was designed around the learning needs of the students; Xpelair was delighted to be able to play a major part in the success. All of the teaching areas were provided with Xpelair PassivAir for comfort conditions, controlled by CO2 sensors operating integral motorised dampers. Xpelair products were also used elsewhere in the development, including air handling units for central systems and KitchenX Ventilation for the catering facilities.”
The new PassivAir brochure describes how Xpelair PassivAir systems aid compliance with Building Regulations Part F2 for ventilation and Part L2 for Conservation of Fuel and Power, improving air-quality and reducing energy use and carbon emissions.
PassivAir makes use of natural ventilation strategies and describes how its mechanical heat recovery can extract 95% of the heat from warm, moist air before it is replaced with fresh tempered air.
Xpelair is part of the Applied Energy group, enabling them to offer a complete low carbon solution for schools, including geothermal heat-pumps, solar thermal collectors and micro-wind turbines, in addition to other more traditional heating, hot-water and ventilation products.
Xpelair have demonstrated how the energy savings of the PassivAir system can be significant. “A typical school with twenty classrooms could realise a saving of 40,000kW per annum over mechanical cooling” stated Mr. Scott, adding that “The installed cost is lower too - typically saving 15%.”
