2009-2010

As part of a consortia led by Balfour Beatty Group, Desco have deliver the M&E services design associated with the development of three new education facilities in the Sunderland area as part of Sunderland's £120m Building Schools for the Future programme. The projects at the award-winning Academy 360, Red House Academy and Biddick Sports College at Washington, have involved transforming existing facilities to provide teaching and learning environments fit for the needs of the 21st century, through a combination of new build and major refurbishments.

The projects required a very high degree of collaborative working with our fellow design consultants, particularly relating to commonality issues and standardised design principles.

Each of the three facilities offers an educational specialism of Sport, IT or Performing Arts. We adopted a bespoke approach to the design strategy for each academy, in order to meet the diverse building services needs of the various teaching and learning spaces.

On all of the schemes we used computer modelling techniques to assist the design process. We worked closely with the architect to develop the window design which offers the best fenestration solution. Our designs make maximum use of natural ventilation and daylighting to the teaching and learning spaces, include carbon-neutral biomass-fuelled boilers and solar thermal hot water pre-heating to minimise energy requirements.

£60m