North Ridge Sixth Form College, Manchester

The new sixth form will accommodate 65 students and comprises multi-functional learning spaces for food technology, ICT, constructional textiles, craft, design and technology, and general classrooms. There are also calming rooms, office accommodation, a reception room, a dining room and a school kitchen. The new college uses MMC (modern methods of construction), enabling large elements of the works to be carried out off-site at The McAvoy Group’s production centre. Utilising MMC radically reduces disruption to staff and students, which is beneficial in a live educational setting.

Our team provided the fully detailed MEP RIBA stage 4 design, along with full building and energy modelling services. Our in-house building & energy modelling department worked closely with the architect to advise on the thermal envelope performance, fenestration, and solar shading to enable compliance with TM52 (Thermal Comfort) and CBDM (Climate Based Daylight Modelling).

The facility benefits from a low-energy hybrid ventilation system supplied by above-ceiling mounted units in all classroom areas, along with CO2 and temperature sensors in line with Part L compliance. Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery systems is utilised for all calming rooms, along with a DX coil box to provide cooling to the spaces, allowing for better temperature control.

A highly efficient, low-energy LED lighting system was designed throughout the building, equipped with PIR and daylight controls utilising the combined presence/absence detection and photocells for daylight linking and 30m2 PV panels installed on the school’s roof. All these energy efficiency measures resulted in a 17% improvement to Part L and a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating.