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Castle Park Primary School Makes the "A" Grade
The official opening ceremony for Castle Park Learning Plaza was held at Castle Park Primary School. White Design completed an extension to the school for Monmouthshire County Council to support a new style of educational learning. This Comprises of a learning plaza for 60 students, a flexible open plan design and a learning space that extends outside, all delivered in a building that scores an "A" grade for its energy use.
The event was attended by John Griffiths, Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, MP Jessica Morden, Governors and local community members. Also Attending was Gill Bray the new head teacher of Dewstow Primary School, the next primary school project White Design are completing with Monmouthshire.
Since September, the Year 5 and 6 pupils and teachers have been settling into the learning plaza, which is a flexible and technologically rich learning environment, combining two year groups together. The Plaza is designed to adapt well to new approaches to learning and teaching as they are developed by the local authority and school. The functional areas and flexible furniture allow the spaces to be adapted to the pupils' educational needs.
The building adopts a ‘passive first’ approach to sustainability, with natural ventilation and high levels of natural daylighting throughout . In essence, the building fabric acts as a moderator of the external climate and the heating, ventilation and lighting installations deal with the reduced demands of the moderated internal climate. The building is highly insulated, with 26 ModCell panels, selected for their high insulation values and airtightness properties. The panels were constructed at the flying factory less than 5 miles away from the school, using Monmouthshire straw. To reduce the energy need further, the plaza has 24 photovoltaic panels, which give a high percentage of the plaza electricity use in the extension, reducing the energy need, which all helps towards the new building achieving an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of A.
