Tilbury Douglas has been appointed to lead the construction of St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy, which will be the UK’s first purpose built biophilic primary school, as part of a pilot scheme for the Department for Education (DfE).

The new school, which is part of St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, will replace the original school which was destroyed by fire in October 2020.

Biophilia is an approach that focuses on connecting those inside a building with nature and increasing biodiversity through design. The new building will be net zero carbon in operation. The new school, which will comprise five single storey buildings, connected by covered walkways will be predominantly low carbon timber, employing Structurally Insulated panels and modern methods of construction.

With mechanical and electrical engineering being delivered by Tilbury Douglas Engineering, the new school will have a natural ventilation strategy and air source heat pumps alongside renewable energy, such as photo voltaic (PV) solar panels. Besides PV, some of the roofs will be green wildflower seeded to maximise biodiversity and local ecology.