The German School | Primary School

The German School building is situated within a conservation area adjacent to the listed Douglas House. The accommodation includes eight classrooms and four adjacent group rooms over two floors, which are required to implement new teaching concepts within the primary school. The new building improves the quality of teaching by providing additional space and making provision for the German School’s whole-day school concept.

The proposed new building is a solid reinforced concrete cross-wall structure with a partial basement. The external façades feature inclined curtain walling and a rain-screen terra-cotta paneled façade with a built-in frame system to create a green wall.

The sustainable design of the proposed school building incorporates naturally ventilated classrooms and group spaces. Extensive modeling was undertaken to optimize the façade design and develop the ventilation strategy to incorporate peak summer boost extract into the natural ventilation solution. Rainwater is attenuated and fed into soakaways using natural infiltration.

Elementa Consulting provided full mechanical, electrical, public health, and sustainability detailed design services for this scheme, taking the original architectural concept developed in Germany. The team translated this into a solution compliant with UK building regulations and bulletins.