Achieving sustainable solar roofing for schools

Creating sustainable environments in our schools is crucial, particularly as schools across the UK are under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, improve energy efficiency and embrace renewable technology. Kalzip explains how this was achieved in two of Aberdeen’s newest schools.  

A specialist roofing system from Kalzip has been chosen for two of Aberdeen’s newest schools and community hubs as part of an investment of more than £40 million. Greythorpe School & Community Hub, and Countesswells Primary School, will cater for a total of 1,028 pupils and feature everything from housing, nursery services, café’s and a 3G seven-a-side football pitch, among other resources.  

Delivered by Hub North Scotland, with Morrison Construction Building North East as the main contractor and Halliday Fraser Munro as architects, the Kalzip system was specified as the roofing system on both schools. The system was chosen for its incredible sustainability benefits, along with the speed of installation. Kalzip 65/400 with a Dark Grey/Anthracite Grey finish was selected for the project but with a key specificity – the panels were provided as part of a whole solar panel package for the schools.  

First approached by Aberdeen City Council, the brief was to provide a roofing system that incorporated solar panels as part of a commitment to address carbon emissions with the new facilities. Initially, the design plan was to source and specify the solar power system separately, but as Kalzip provides bespoke solutions for each project, a system that packaged the roofing and solar components with a laminate protecting finish was pitched. Following a series of information sharing regarding the schematics of installation and power output, the package was accepted and specified for the project.  

Chris Goldie, Regional Sales Manager Scotland at Kalzip, says: “One of the challenges of installing solar panels as an additional product following the installation of the roofing is the added traffic on the surface during the application of the panels. While durable and rigid, this can lead to imperfections on the finish and even small areas of aesthetic damage on the roof surface.  

“Being able to provide this solution as a package for the project provided a number of benefits to the client such as the cost-effectiveness and time-saving through not specifying separately, along with a fully integrated system that was installed and completed in a far quicker time.” 

Both Greythorpe School & Community Hub and Countesswells Primary School was completed on time and within budget, which was attributed to the collective effort of the subcontractors involved.  

Ewen Fowlie, Operations Director for Hub North Scotland, says: “Countesswells has been a brilliant school project and the result is a fantastic building which has been completed early and defect free. It will be a popular landmark for generations to come as this community continues to grow.” 

Mike Bruce, Managing Director of Morrison Construction Building North East, adds: “It’s very satisfying to see all the hard work of our team and our local subcontractors being so well received. We are extremely proud of the high-quality learning environment that we’ve played our part in delivering, and seeing the smiles and excitement amongst all the pupils today makes all our efforts worthwhile.” 

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