New eco-resource centre for St Brigid’s Primary School, Gold
Coast
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Principal Annette Duffy with students Cougar Kilby and Cyndi
Missan
Sustainable, innovative and community orientated teaching spaces
are the future for St Brigid’s Primary School in Nerang on the Gold
Coast. The specialised eco-resource centre will be built as an
addition to the current library under the Primary Schools for the
21st Century (P21) element of the Building the Education Revolution
(BER).
Principal, Ms Annette Duffy, wanted to maximise the opportunity
that the BER provided, and create sustainable, leading edge learning
spaces.
The eco-resource centre will be a hive of activity, housing space
for food and traditional sciences, music rooms and multi-purpose
learning areas. All rooms will be connected by a large foyer area
that can be locked and transformed in to an independent space used
for gallery exhibitions or other community events.
A key sustainable technique will be the storage of rain water in
catchment tanks within the building walls, drawing heat to the walls
creating thermal insulation and thus providing heating and cooling.
Other techniques will include dark coloured roof vents
encouraging hot air to leave the building, wet walls to support
evaporative cooling, and natural vegetation to provide shade in the
hot Gold Coast summer.
Computerised panels located on the walls will relay the
temperature of the roof, walls and floor, as well as the level of
solar energy, to show students how the water running throughout the
building is working as natural air-conditioning.
The approach to be adopted will highlight simple sustainable
techniques to save energy and conserve water, while also creating a
natural learning space.
The project is currently in the design phase with construction
due to commence in November, and estimated for completion in
December 2010.
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