1. The Roots Eco Classroom
2010 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture
Accrington Academy, Lancashire, UK
Design Concept Award
Supported by
Class Of Your Own Limited

2. Roots Eco Classroom
3. Roots Eco CLASSROOM
4. A Design for our Community
Our vision began 12 months ago following
a workshop to help us to learn how to be
more sustainable in our everyday lives.
We formed teams of managers, architects,
surveyors and landscapers to design the
ultimate green building for our school.
The different designs and presentations
were judged and three winning teams were
given the opportunity to make our vision a
reality....
By involving our community in the
development and sustainability of our
project we are helping to change the way
people think about environmental issues.
Local projects should help local people and that makes business sense.We aim to source all building and landscape supplies from within a 50 mile radius of our school thereby helping to support those local businesses.
Our Pre Qualification Questionnaire will ensure that the local business community who wish to help us pull up their green socks, and treat sustainability as their number one priority.
This is not just our classroom, but it will be our little brothers and sisters to enjoy for a long time. We will create a Learning Centre Maintenance Plan managed by a School Committee which will involve the whole community.
Our building and its environment will be looked after throughout the seasons and during holiday periods. We will measure outcomes and record our progress, reporting back to our stakeholders at regular intervals.
We are well aware that we are only temporary guardians of our classroom we want to leave it as our legacy for future pupils of Accrington Academy.
5. Our Community Launch Day
To ensure that our community were fully involved in our plans and aspirations, we celebrated the launch of our ideas with speeches and presentations at the Academy.
We invited members of the local community,the Lord Mayor of Accrington, the Member of Parliament for Hyndburn and local businesses and individuals who could help us turn our ideas into reality.
6. Learning in our Classroom
Roots is a company made up of a mixed age group of Accrington Academy students with one big idea. We have come together to create a unique, eco friendly and sustainable classroom. The plans for the classroom have involved a lot of communication, commitment and most
of all the drive to ensure our ideas were realistic and as eco-friendly as possible.

We wrote a company mission statement:

One Name, One Meaning, One Goal. That's what Roots is all about. Our aim is to show that by working together, no matter what your age, you can achieve anything. Building an Eco-Friendly classroom will prove this. When starting something new, and creating a project, you need foundations, you need Roots.

As project managers and end users, we will see our classroom completed from start to finish and learn some really good skills as we go. We know that employers value people with practical, hands on experience and knowledge and weve already used a wide range of functional skills to solve a wide range of real life work based problems!Theres much more to learn, and were very excited by the challenges of this next academic year.
7. Learning to Learn
By involving role modelsfrom the world of work we ensure that young people are encouraged to understand the excitement and importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the career opportunities to which these STEM subjects can lead.
We have also been able to develop our
Personal Learning and Thinking Skills andhow to become better citizens.We are great team workers, and get involved in all aspects of decision making with confidence.
Our classroom will be open outside the normal school hours, so our community can learn at their own pace, and hold their own special events and activities.
The most important fact is that we are able to encourage our community to be inspired by what we have done we can teach them that living sustainably is actually very straight forward. We are actually up skilling our mums and dads....weve eventold our government!
8. Our School Environment
Across our Academy we do lots to focus on our impact on climate change. We will reinforce our whole-school approach to leading the way in reducing carbon emissions.
Our classroom will allow students and the community to learn more about the impact a school building has on the environment and how we can effectively reduce energy and water use. They can then use this knowledge and adapt it to their own lifestyles.
Our classroom will be used to help our community learn about how to keep warm and healthy in their homes, and be energy efficient at the same time. We aim to make fuel poverty in Accrington a thing of the past.
9. Sustainable Design
This is an impression of our building .
We designed a new learning environment
for everyone toexperience.
Were making use of a wind turbine and
photovoltaic cells to provide a natural
source of electricity, and solar panels to
provide hot water, capturing the natural
energy of the sun.
Timber beams support the building, using
Glulam to maintain a strong structure and
locally sourced chip board flooring. One of
our walls will be constructed in recycled Accrington brick which wasused in the foundations of the Empire State Building! We plan to insulate the walls with straw bale insulation, because it is a natural material which can be locally sourced.
We want a grass roof, which will look attractive from a birds eye view and will attract wildlife to the area. There is a pond at the front of the building which we hope will attract more wildlife which can be observed in the hide at the front of the building.
10. Rehearsing our Speeches
If our plans are approved, Accrington will be the first town in Great Britain to have a student led, completely sustainable building which will be used to its full potential by members of the academy and our community. It will also enhance the areas heritage.
Our project has taught us about teamwork, and how to care for and preserve the environment which is a knowledge that many adults lack.
If we can have our building, we can help our community to look after OUR planet!
Final preparations for our
planning presentation
11. Hyndburn Borough Council
The focus of the scheme on building an ecological sustainable building ...is reflected in existing National and Regional Planning Policy and in emerging Local Policy.
The outcome of the department's involvement in the scheme has been extremely positive.
We would actively look to encourage the involvement of school children and the wider community in the development process, raising awareness of the planning process, its impact on society, shaping local communities and built environment.
Hazel Fox, Planning Officer
Submission of our plans to
Hyndburn Council Planning Department
12. Floor plan
13. Roof Plan
14. Section
15. Elevations
16. Elevations
17. Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture2010 Project Data
18. Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture2010 Project Details
19. We made national headlines....!