Eco classrooms can be used for a wide range of applications namely outdoor classrooms, extra classroom teaching areas, staff room, IT suite, library and resources centre, music/dance room, adult learning, nursery facility or even an office or meeting room.
Every facet of our eco classrooms has been manufactured with the environment in mind and therefore include such features as sedum roofs, low energy lighting, enhanced thermal efficiency, eco paints and renewable energy systems – these include wind turbine/solar panel systems and even special dynamo bikes which the children can pedal to create electricity.
Eco classrooms come in all shapes and sizes – namely octagonal, square and rectangular – and can either be open-sided or fully enclosed with insulation and glazing. Optional extras include solar panels, wind turbines, water butts and guttering systems for rainwater harvesting, lean to greenhouses, cold frames, nesting boxes and recycling bin centres.
“Sustainable development will not just be a subject in the classroom: it will be in its bricks and mortar and the way school uses, and even generates, its own power. Our students won’t just be told about sustainable development, they will see and work within it: a living, learning place in which to explore what a sustainable lifestyle means” Tony Blair 2006
We have just completed an eco outdoor classroom at this school in the New Forest. The outdoor classroom itself is a 5m octagonal gazebo which can easily cater for a class of 30 children and features an attractive cedar shingle tile roof and exterior cedar cladding.
But the school wanted to add an extra dimension and turn into a fully fledged eco classroom where the children can learn all about renewable energy and how it is made. The Hideout House Company were commissioned to supply this eco outdoor classroom and came up with the idea of having a solar panel and wind turbine mounted onto the side of the building. The energy created from the wind and the sun is then stored into a battery which is mounted onto an internal power board in the classroom building itself. If they so wish, the children can isolate the power coming from the turbine and solar panel so that they can see for example on a windy day how much energy is coming off the turbine…or if it is a sunny day, how much energy is produced via the solar panel.
By way of an inverter, the energy stored in the battery is then turned into usable electricity. There are two power sockets mounted on the board which the school children can then use to power up their laptops, mobiles, visualisers. So green energy in its purest form!
There is also a datalogger system built into the system which allows the children to store and monitor relevant information from the system and to undertake outdoor eco exercises.
Eco studies is now such a big and important issue within schools and there are now nearly 18,000 registered Eco Schools in England alone. This type of equipment therefore helps towards schools eco schools accreditations.
For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com
www.hideouthouse.com
renewable energy board
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2016-10-03 14:38:462016-10-03 14:41:03Eco outdoor classroom at William Gilpin Primary School
We have just installed a 6m octagonal outdoor classroom building at Ashford Prep School in Kent who are absolutely delighted with it. It is going to be used for a whole host of applications and since its installation earlier this month, the school’s PTA have now agreed to turn into a truly eco classroom. We are therefore going to add a water butt and roof guttering system for rainwater harvesting and install a special renewable energy monitoring system.
This will consist of an energy monitoring board attached to a post-mounted wind turbine and solar panel system so that the children can see how much energy is being created by the wind and sun and thanks to an in-built datalogger, they can also register and monitor this information for outdoor studies and eco sustainability lessons. The monitoring board also has two outdoor power sockets so that the energy created by the wind turbine and solar panel is stored into a battery and by means of an inverter is then turned into usable electricity – so green power in its purest form! Children can therefore appreciate how renewable energy can be created & harnessed and used for appliances such as laptops, mobile phones, visualisers etc
Renewable energy system with sensory light panel
Eco classrooms from the Hideout House Company are proving to be very popular especially by those schools who have an Eco Schools Accreditation.
For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email info@hideouthouse.com
www.hideouthouse.com
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2016-09-15 09:39:112016-09-15 09:39:33Outdoor Classroom at Ashford Prep School
We have recently installed our new eco classroom building at the Green Britain Centre in Norfolk.
The eco classroom is an attractive, cedar clad, fully enclosed 5m octagonal building with an atrium roof (to allow in natural sunlight) and which can easily cater for a class or group of 30 children. As well as providing an outdoor classroom facility, the building itself is intended to be used as an educational resource – to enable visiting groups to enhance educational activities by providing a new resource, raising awareness of renewable sources of energy and sustainable food production as well as providing for hands-on learning for schools, colleges, holiday clubs and individuals. The eco classroom will also assist the existing use of the centre as an educational facility for nearby schools and colleges.
The Green Britain Centre is based in Swaffham, Norfolk and is a popular, learning-outside-of-the-classroom, destination for schools and colleges to learn about renewable forms of energy, new forms of transport and sustainable food through their various displays on site and a comprehensive programme of educational activities. Most notably the wind turbine (windmill) which is the only one open to the public in the world. Visitors have to climb the 300 steps to the viewing platform at the top and experience a modern windmill from the very heart of the machine – and on a clear day, the views from the top of the windmill are amazing! There is also a giant solar tracker on site which follows the sun across the sky.
There are plans afoot to add on additional components to the building to further enhance the eco experience – such as special dynamo bikes which visiting groups have to pedal in order to create power for items such as smoothie makers, flashing light panels, bubble making machines, music systems etc.
For further information on eco classrooms, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit www.hideouthouse.com
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2016-07-04 11:39:572026-10-28 13:08:31Eco Classroom at The Green Britain Centre
It certainly can be an easy boast or claim about your classroom’s eco credentials and there are some buildings out which claim to be eco friendly simply because they are well insulated (which is stipulated anyway in building regs if so required) and thereby thermally efficient. Or the timber has some sort of FSC or PEFC accreditation.
Well, we believe that eco classrooms should not only be environmentally friendly, it should also teach children about environmental and sustainability issues as well. If you are going to teach a child something, it is always better if you can actually demonstrate it and they to be a part of the educational process. And that is why we have developed our eco classrooms to feature the following:
Living sedum roofs to attract bio-diversity
Renewable energy systems such as educational wind turbine/solar panel/energy monitoring board with power points & special dynamo bikes which the children have to pedal to create power
Roof guttering and water butt systems for rainwater harvesting
Low energy lighting and solar pipes
External planters for growing food
Mini greenhouses and storage units
Mini dipping ponds
The whole Eco Schools programme is now becoming popular in UK schools and indeed there are now nearly 18,000 registered eco schools in England alone. We have successfully installed these type of buildings in eco schools throughout the UK in various different formats – fully enclosed and insulated buildings or as outdoor classrooms. For further details on these buildings, please visit
There are indeed some very good reasons why your school should consider buying an eco classroom building as opposed to a more traditional design and specification. Below we list the principle reasons for going down the eco design route:
It goes without saying of course that eco classrooms are environmentally friendly and are doing their bit to keep the environment in check. Quite simply, you are protecting the planet for future generations to enjoy
Reduced costs – energy efficient and sustainable buildings reduce overall energy bills
With modular builds, you save on transport and on-site build costs and therefore reduce the CO2 footprint of costly distribution and production methods
Your school can promote environmental awareness to the school and local community as well as connecting children with nature
Use the building as an educational resource so that children can actually be part of the sustainability knowledge process
They are usually manufactured from eco friendly materials – accredited sustainable timber from managed plantations, living sedum roofs, rainwater harvesting systems and sun pipes
They can use renewable energy sources for heating and lighting (solar panels, wind turbines and air source heat pumps)
Eco classrooms can help towards your Eco Schools accreditations as they compliment some of the major eco school topics – RENEWABLE ENERGY, BIO-DIVERSITY, SCHOOL GROUNDS, RE-CYCLING & GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
There could be some grants available too which will support the funding of these types of classroom buildings
For further information, please visit
The Hideout House Company Ltd
www.hideouthouse.com
eco outdoor classroom
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2015-11-14 15:37:042016-08-25 15:20:33The Benefits of Eco Classrooms
We have had many enquiries from schools this past year for outdoor classroom buildings for their forest school settings – be it on their own grounds or as part of a shared facility with a local established forest school set up.
You could argue that the forest or woodland itself is the outdoor classroom – which of course it is – but our buildings are principally used as an outdoor classroom facility where a class can easily sit down, undertake their learning-outside-of-the-classroom studies or simply take shelter! But like always, we have adapted our buildings to enhance this environment – for example we have supplied a fire pit shelter and outdoor classroom building with a cooking area fire pit in the middle and a hole in the roof so that the smoke can easily exhaust out and upwards; another one had built-in bug hotel wall panels so that the children could get up close and personal with those mini beasts; we have supplied observation tables with magnifying glasses and you can even have one with living wall panels where growing plants (or creepers) gradually grow up the side of the building to give that ultimate hideaway courtesy of Mother Nature!
We can also put outdoor toilets in them too. And if they are fully enclosed, you can heat them via a wood burning stove from wood and logs the children have collected from the wood or forest.
Forest schools provide a great opportunity for children to learn to play outdoors all year round and to learn about their natural environment. We just help that process with the products we supply
For more information, please visit Forest Schools or contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit www.hideouthouse.com
Outdoor classroom in forest school
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2015-10-27 15:58:282016-08-26 13:34:44Forest School Outdoor Classroom
We have an exciting project coming up with the Green Britain Centre in Norfolk where we are soon to be supplying them with one of our eco classrooms. The Green Britain Centre is part of Ecotricity’s Green Britain Foundation and we are extremely proud to have an on-going relationship with this forward-looking company.
The centre is a popular destination for school and college trips so our eco classroom will be used by visiting school children to conduct outdoor lessons and studies. It is a 5m octagonal classroom and will be enclosed with glazed panels so that it can be extensively used all year round.
It will be installed by the end of the year. If schools want to take the opportunity to find out first hand about renewable forms of energy, new forms of transport and sustainable food, then this is the place to go. You can also climb to the top of their windmill (wind turbine) and it is the only one in the world which allows people to do so.
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2015-09-22 15:30:082015-09-22 15:30:21Eco Classroom Project at the Green Britain Centre
These type of eco friendly buildings are becoming ever more popular in schools but what exactly are they? And why are they different from standard classroom buildings?
One could simply argue that any building is now eco friendly as current building methods and building regulations stipulate that they have to be thermally efficient on account of their insulation properties (indeed for larger buildings you have to submit SBEM – simplified building energy model – calculations which essentially provide for an analysis of building energy consumption and Co2 emission rates). If they are timber clad, you would also need to ensure that the original source of the timber supply is either FSC or PEFC accredited or certified – basically this ensures that for every tree cut down, another one is planted.
But you can go a whole step further in the design of eco classrooms to ensure they are truly eco friendly:
*Sedum Living Roofs – these can usually only be applied to flat or shallow mono pitch roofs because they do not work with steep roof pitches. And they tend to be more expensive than other roof systems as the building has to be structurally “beefed up” in order to take the extra weight of the sedum and its underlays. BUT they do naturally absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, sedum is a natural insulator and they attract all sorts of bio-diversity
*Renewable Energy – dependent upon the power load required for your classroom building, you can use solar panels and wind turbines to provide some if not all of the electricity. Usually however these type of systems provide for say 40% of the overall electricity pull with the rest coming directly from the grid. However you can also earn money from solar panel systems by feeding electricity back into the grid as well as benefitting from the lower energy bills. We have also worked on projects where some of the power is generated by children pedalling special dynamo bikes!
*Air source heat pumps– act both as a combined space heating and air conditioning unit but they produce less C02 than traditional systems because air is the main component being used which of course is a renewable resource
*Guttering and water butts– these can be used as rainwater harvesting systems
*LED lighting and sun pipes in the roof to allow in extra natural light
And of course the added benefit is that these type of eco classrooms teach the children about environmental issues and demonstrate how we can lead more of a sustainable life.
For more information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com
I think it is fair to say that we have had quite a lot of experience over the years in working with schools when they are looking for a new classroom building. And so we thought we would put together a very brief list of the sequential “steps” to help you facilitate what sometimes can be quite a daunting task.
Step One
Be very clear about what you want this new building to “do” and what you require within it – i.e. does it need internal WCs, how much actual classroom teaching space do you require, do you need to have extra storage space, is a kitchenette area with sink and microwave required? Is it just going to be used exclusively by the school or is there a wider community use for it perhaps (this can sometimes be quite important if you are looking for external funding). So have a clear project plan in place and establish any local need if so required.
Step Two
Once you have decided upon the above, you now need to get the initial buy-in from your Governors to proceed further. Without this, you are just going to be wasting your time and those of potential suppliers. I have been on many visits to schools where we have put together quite detailed plans and quotes and only to be later told that the Governors would rather spend the money on something else having not originally been consulted. It can be quite frustrating.
Most important – how are you going to pay for it?? Like above, I have been involved on some many projects where this has not really been addressed initially and it really needs to be. You therefore need to identify as to whether there is money in the school capital budget, can you lease the building perhaps, research if there are there grants available from the local education authority (we keep hearing so much about how the Government are pumping millions into the whole classroom shortage problem) and whether there are non Govt grants which might fund your project – especially if there is a wider community use for your building.
Step Three
At this stage you now need to start to look at potential suppliers for your school classroom building. Have a look at their websites, ask them for testimonials from previous schools they have supplied, see whether they will come out and do a free initial site visit. Ascertain what kind of overall service they can supply – e.g can they offer a complete turn-key system whereby they will undertake all of the associated project work such as applying for planning permission, filing building reg applications, install baseworks, connection of all necessary services etc If so, they will need to give you a comprehensive quote
Step Four
Once you have received in all of the quotes and undertaken as much as due diligence as possible, make your decision as to which company you wish to contract with. Now you need to file a planning permission application to your local authority as no building work can be done until you have this. In some instances a building regulation application can be filed at the same time to the building control officer in order to save time.
Step Five
If you are planning on siting this new classroom building onto an existing playing field area at the school, you will also need to check whether you have to file for Section 77 Approval and details on this can be found on the below link:
https://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.png00Simon Fearnehoughhttps://www.hideouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x129.pngSimon Fearnehough2015-07-29 10:23:142015-08-16 10:42:56How To Buy A School Classroom Building
We were thrown another interesting challenge recently from an independent Eco school who have a big forest school area within their grounds. As this woodland area is somewhat remote and distant from the main school buildings, they are wanting to have an enclosed outdoor classroom building which they can use for a whole host of applications and will be used for at least a couple of hours a day. In all seasons and in all weathers. So they need some sort of power and heat plus they need to have a WC facility for staff and visitors.
As the site is nowhere near any service connections, there is no other option but to go “off-grid”. But we believe that we have cracked it.
The building itself will be 7m x 4m so easily enough room to cater for a class of 30 children and will have bi-fold doors to the front elevation so that the building can easily be opened up to allow for free-flow. It will be fully insulated to roof, walls and floor so that it is as thermally efficient as possible as well as being double glazed. The toilet is to be a modern environmentally friendly eco composting toilet so no water, no sewage, no harmful chemicals, no smell and no waste.
The lighting will be LED strip lights which in turn will be powered by an array of four ground mounted solar panels (capable of producing a Kw of electricity) and a mini wind turbine. The energy created by this system will be stored in two batteries and by way of an inverter will be converted to usable power so that the children and staff have two power sockets they can use for laptops, tablets etc. We are also investigating the possibility of this power supply being “topped up” by electric pedal bikes which the children have to pedal for a period of time – but to keep them interested we have developed a system with an LED display unit so that the faster they pedal, they can see how many more kws of power they are creating.
Heating of the building will be via an internal wood-burning stove and because this is a forest school, the children will be responsible for collecting the logs to burn.
Should be a very interesting project and truly an eco classroom in every sense. So if you are looking for something similar, then please contact us on info@hideouthouse.com or phone 01865 858982
