Davie and McCulloch Ltd

Inverclyde Council have recently appointed us to provide M+E consultancy services for their, state-of-the-art Adult Learning Disability Hub. The £6.5m community hub will be designed to achieve Passivhaus accreditation based on the following principles:

• Very high levels of insulation

• Extremely high-performance windows and insulated frames 

• Airtight building fabric

• Thermal bridge free construction 

• Mechanical ventilation with highly efficient heat recovery

The energy performance target is less than 67kWh/sq.m/p.a. and the intention is for the building to ultimately achieve Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band A.

The Jedburgh Grammar Campus project was recognised this week at the Partnership Awards 2020 as it took home a Silver Award in the Best Education category. Organised by Partnerships Bulletin, the Awards recognise and reward the best in Public–Private Partnership projects. Now in its 22nd year, the long-running event received entries for organisations and projects across Europe, the Middle East and Australia. The new £32m campus completed in March 2020 is a partnership project between Hub South East and Scottish Borders Council and we were appointed by BAM Construction Scotland to undertake the M+E designs on the project. The campus is an innovative learning space which serves 2- to 18-year-olds, as well as providing further education opportunities and community facilities. It replaces all three schools previously in the town and has facilities for nursery, primary, secondary and additional support needs pupils. Community facilities include a multi-use games area (MUGA), 2G hockey pitch, 3G sports pitch, 100m synthetic running track, 300m grass track and gym. Alongside classrooms, there is a rural skills area and flexible hall space that can be used for multiple activities such as community events, sport, dance or drama classes and a café. The public library and contact centre are also housed on the campus, which aims to cater for all ages of the community in one location.

Leader of Scottish Borders Council, Councillor Shona Haslam, said: “This award win is fantastic news and great recognition for Jedburgh Grammar Campus. The Campus is the culmination of some excellent partnership work over the past few years and we now have a first-class education setting for young people in the area from the age of 2 up to 18, as well as a facility that the wider community will benefit from and enjoy for years to come.”

In October, CIBSE  released version 4 of the COVID-19 Ventilation Guidance providing guidance on the set up and operation of ventilation systems. The UK Government and devolved administrations have produced guidance for employers, employees and the self-employed to help them understand how they can work safely during the pandemic. For the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance on building safety in general and on air conditioning and ventilation in particular. Ventilation is a very important way of diluting any airborne pathogens and there is evidence showing that room occupants are more at risk of catching an illness in poorly ventilated rooms than in well-ventilated rooms.

Evidence suggests that in poorly ventilated indoor spaces airborne aerosols are a possible transmission route and the precautionary advice remains valid. Maintaining good levels of ventilation remains the key focus even in colder weather conditions, whilst minimising occupant discomfort due to draughts and lower indoor temperatures. As businesses continue to manage the return of staff to work premises and the continuing operation of buildings through the pandemic, a number of issues need to be considered for the safety of those entering buildings. Government guidelines should be followed.

To minimise the risks of far-field airborne aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the general advice is to increase the air supply and exhaust ventilation, supplying as much outside air as is reasonably possible. The underlying principle is to dilute and remove airborne pathogens as much as possible, exhausting them to the outside and reducing the chance that they can become deposited on surfaces or inhaled by room users. Recirculation or transfer of air from one room to another should be avoided unless this is the only way of providing adequate ventilation rates to all occupied rooms. In naturally ventilated buildings, strategies such as intermittent airing and partial window opening to complement background ventilation should be adopted.