Plans unveiled to update a Waterlooville school to extend the life of its building

By updating the facade at Hart Plain Junior School, Hampshire County Council said it will extend the building’s life, reduce its carbon emissions and improve its thermal performance. The school is one of the 450 SCOLA school buildings built in Hampshire over fourteen years. Many of the components in the SCOLA system were specified to achieve a life of 25 years, but 50 years on, many of the school buildings are still in use.

Now, Hampshire County Council has developed a system of recladding SCOLA buildings by retaining the existing steel frame structure, replacing building components at the end of their useful life, and enhancing the building’s thermal performance and internal comfort and learning environment.

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Hart Plain Junior School building was constructed using the ‘SCOLA 2’ system, which comprises a steel frame, single-glazed ‘crittall’ type windows and an uninsulated flat roof. The project aims to extend the life of the existing building through refurbishment, reduce carbon emissions and improve internal comfort by upgrading the fabric of the existing building with an insulated cladding system, insulated roof and double glazing. The additional thermal insulation will improve the thermal performance of the building.

The proposed works at the Junior School will focus on removing the existing single glazing and spandrel panels and reclad the original building with an insulated cladding system and, where replaced, new double-glazed thermally broken windows and doors. As well as reroofing the two-storey and single-storey flat roofs to the areas that will be recladded with additional insulation to reduce heat loss through the roof.

Upgrades on the existing lighting to LED, the introduction of natural ventilation heat and recycling units will also be included. Public consultation will run from October 16 to November 13. If you wish to submit your views, visit Hampshire County Council with the HCC/2023/0567 reference number.