St. Marys Catholic Voluntary Academy/

Hawkins\Brown

United Kingdom

Location(City/Country):

Derby / United Kingdom

Tipology:

Educational

Year (Design/Construction):

- / 2023

Area (Net/Gross):

- / 2316 m2

Operational Carbon emissions (B6) kgCO2e/m2/y:

Embodied Carbon emissions (A1-A3) kgCO2e/m2:

The school’s energy needs are fully met by rooftop photovoltaic solar panels, reducing the building’s carbon emissions and providing 100% of its energy requirements.
The use of natural materials such as timber and SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels) minimises embodied carbon and significantly reduces construction waste, achieving a very low environmental impact.
The design incorporates sustainable drainage systems, over 100 trees, wildflower meadows, and rooftop planting to encourage local biodiversity and support wildlife, including pollinators and birds.
The project follows the Department for Education’s GenZero principles, using passive design strategies to minimise energy consumption and meet high sustainability standards for educational buildings.

St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Derby is an innovative pilot scheme and the first purpose-built biophilic primary school in the UK, delivered according to the Department for Education’s GenZero principles. The new building replaces the original school destroyed by fire in October 2020. St Mary’s reopened its doors in December 2023, acclaimed as the UK’s greenest primary school. In February 2025 the project was shortlisted for a RIBA East Midlands Award.

The new state primary school comprises five single storey buildings organised around a central covered spine of external circulation with each key stage accommodated in a cluster of classrooms. Biophilic design has been embedded from first principles, enabling every learning space to have both a visual and physical connection to carefully crafted external courtyards with distinct and changing characteristics throughout the seasons. Natural materials provide a low carbon solution but are also embedded in the biophilic principle of providing supportive, calm, healthy learning environments with good air quality, acoustics and connections to outside.

The new school has been designed using passive principles to minimise energy in use. All energy needs are off set on site through rooftop PVs, which have saved the equivalent carbon of planting over 1,000 trees. In addition, the single storey buildings have enabled the use of primarily natural materials and modular SIPS panels, improving the pace of delivery, whilst minimising defects and construction waste. This results in very low embodied carbon, far lower than the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge target. Openable windows, doors and rooflights provide natural ventilation with a ‘light shelf’ at high level providing protection from cold draughts, enabling use of natural ventilation throughout the year. To cultivate local ecology and biodiversity the scheme has ground level sustainable drainage systems, over 100 trees, wildflower meadows and rooftop planting to support a diverse system of pollinators and birds.