Howe Dell Primary’s £10 million, eco-friendly design is used by teachers to promote sustainability to a new generation of pupils. Capita Architects were given free reign to push the limits of sustainable design in the project, which was funded by the council, and that was exactly what they did. The school features solar panels, a wind turbine, and a heating system that uses a series of pipes just below the surface of the school playground for passive gain that is then utilised to heat the school.

This groundbreaking design was awarded ECO Green Flag accreditation (the highest level awarded to sustainable schools in the UK) and places pupils in close proximity to nature. To this end, the design’s wetland area and sedum roofs are used to study birds and the school places sustainability at the core of the curriculum. This learning is even extended to the playground where learning stations allow pupils to examine the habitats of micro-beasts. In this way, the whole building is understood as a living, learning organism in which education and design shape one another.