SAS International's System 600 meets the grade: Hadley Learning Community Project

Leading architectural practice Aedas's work on the Hadley Learning Community project, included the selection of SAS’s System 600 acoustic lighting rafts in the classrooms, cafeteria and teaching environments. A flagship initiative, Hadley Learning Community & Jigsaw Project is the Borough of Telford and Wrekin Council's first Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme. Aedas worked with Faber Maunsell on the £65million project.
The use of thermal mass cooling in conjunction with a natural ventilation system was an important requisite. To ensure the building soffit was left open, an acoustic lighting raft was specified by Aedas.
SAS System 600 rafts were suspended in linear arrays across the open soffit which allows free air movement to the structural slab, enabling thermal mass cooling to take place.
Jonathan Cowper of Aedas commented: “We knew what we wanted to achieve and SAS International was able to show us a proven solution which we could use as a base model. It’s a very neat solution and one that has been very successful in this project.”
Integrating lighting and acoustic comfort in one unit also reduces capital and installation cost. With increased design flexibility, System 600 rafts can be configured to carry services such as cabling, PA and fire detection and control systems. Apertures for luminaires and other services are formed during manufacturing, reducing on-site installation time.
The metal suspended rafts chosen have a curved profile. A perforated metal panel was designed to fit between the top of the raft and the ceiling soffit offering additional protection to the services which, given safety and security issues in this type of environment, is important.
A thorough design analysis and approach was undertaken throughout the whole design and build process for this project by both the architect and the client. The Borough of Telford and Wrekin Council implemented evaluation studies, carried out by external parties, to ascertain parameters such as daylight, temperature and ventilation rates, and solar penetration in typical classroom blocks to optimise the plans. The Council also required sustainable elements to be incorporated in the design.
Will Pitt, project engineer for Faber Maunsell, M&E Consultants commented: “Using low carbon technologies on this kind of scale has given us the experience to carry these techniques forward, not only onto other schools, but onto various large projects in the future.”
Ventilation provisions were designed to comply with the Building Bulletin 101, a design guide for schools which specifies required CO2 performance standards and is cited under Part F of the Building Regulations.
The Hadley Learning Community project is now complete with the Primary school, the Bridge Special School and the community facilities (including indoor swimming pool, theatre, gymnasium, sports hall, Learning Resource Centre and Public Library) opening on 8th January 2007.

Email: edwinac@thinktank.org.uk