The £5.5 million Westcliffe Primary School in Scunthorpe will be the latest in North Lincolnshire to benefit from the local authority’s aim to make its new educational facilities as sustainable as possible.

Councillor Tony Gosling, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “The plans for the new school look fantastic and involve state-of-the-art technology to help reduce the carbon footprint. Education in North Lincolnshire is developing constantly.”

The school will provide will cater for some 350 children and include a variety of features to enhance its environmental performance.

These will include a network of ground source heat pumps providing some two thirds of the school’s heating needs.

Rainwater harvesting systems will provide water for greywater use, such as flushing toilets.

Photovoltaic solar panels will generate electricity and air source heat pump for a Sure Start centre will be attached to the school. Work on the school is expected to begin this November.

North Lincolnshire’s latest eco-friendly school was opened in Brigg in 2007, boasting a green sedum plant roof.

The project is good news for a green construction industry concerned work could be drying up.

The government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which included funding for making schools more environmentally friendly, has been put on ice.

This has sparked fears a major work source for companies specialising in green construction techniques could be lost.

David Gibbs

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