Natural approach to school expansion

To meet guidelines and requirements for ventilation, Matravers School in Westbury has installed five Passivent Airscoop terminals. Two terminals with direct air dispersal louvres linked to five modulating room control units have been installed in the sports hall to meet Sports England guidelines of 1.5 air changes an hour. The other three Airscoops are in the dining hall and provide 8 l/s per person in accordance with DfES Building Bulletin requirements. A predicted 30% increase in student numbers is the reason for the expansion of facilities. David Kent Architects worked with Passivent to design a displacement-ventilation solution for the sports hall and dining hall. Airscoop is a roof-mounted ventilation terminal divided diagonally into four chambers. Wind from any direction is channelled down through the windward chambers into the building and displaces warm, ‘used’ air through the leeward chambers. Motorised dampers in the base of the Airscoop control the flow and mixing of air, while preventing draughts and cold dumping. Modulating room control units provide automatic control of the ventilation rate within an adjustable temperature band of 6 K about the set point. The controller is linked to a night-cooling over-ride that offers a winter/summer setting and automatic control of free night cooling.

Related links:

• www.passivent.com