Riverside Primary School.

A new state-of-the-art school, replacing the current Balhousie and North Muirton Primary Schools. It is the first primary school in Scotland to be built to Passivhaus standards, where energy-saving measures are an integral part of the design. 

BakerHicks were appointed to provide mechanical and electrical design services by Perth & Kinross Council through the Hub East Central Scotland framework, working closely with Robertson Construction Tayside and Architype, the latter as both lead consultant and Passivhaus designer, with WARM as the Passivhaus certifiers. During the planning approval stage, BakerHicks’ team were involved in the formation of the energy strategy for the building, including ensuring it met the Council’s renewable energy strategy. 

The new school was built to the Passivhaus Standard, making it truly energy efficient, comfortable and economical. A Passivhaus building requires very little energy to achieve a comfortable temperature year-round, typically offering space related heating and cooling energy savings of up to 75% compared to the average new build. The Standard can be applied to all building types and focuses specifically on orientation to maximise the impact of natural sunlight, ‘superinsulation’, airtight envelopes, high-performance window installation, minimal thermal bridging and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. This will make it a key element in the drive to halt global warming. 

To achieve this, the new school uses an all-electric heating and hot water strategy, has photovoltaic panels fitted to the roof and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) with a 92% efficiency rate controlling the internal environment. There was also a focus on ‘in use’ energy use, with all kitchen and plug-in equipment usage being reviewed and verified. This ensures the school meets the Scottish Government’s requirements on fossil fuel usage, as well as achieving the Scottish Futures Trust’s Learning Estate Investment Programme’s (LEIP) benchmark of keeping in-use energy below 67kwh per metre squared each year. 

The designs for the building were carefully considered following extensive consultation with the local community and provide first class learning facilities comprising 16 classrooms, with a further two available for future school expansion. The landscape design retains many of the existing pedestrian paths that connect the school with the neighbouring area to encourage active travel through walking and cycling to school. In addition, the new school benefits from an outdoor activity trail and a sheltered outdoor classroom for both informal self-guided play and programmed outdoor learning.