With a focus on sustainability and wellbeing, Ysgol Penbre (Pembrey School) near Llanelli was designed by Carmarthenshire County Council as part of its multi-million pound Modernising Education Programme in collaboration with the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme. The school’s ventilation strategy has been enhanced through the use of Passivent’s versatile SoundScoop units, which have been installed within the classroom areas to contribute to the creation of a comfortable interior learning environment, both in terms of air quality and noise reduction.
At just 320mm high, the discrete design of Passivent’s SoundScoop allowed it to be easily accommodated within the bulkheads that supply the rooms with fresh air, which can also be heated or cooled, via a centralised air-handling plant. The SoundScoop units then passively exhaust air back out into the central circulation space for it to be extracted, tempered and redistributed back into the classrooms by the main air-handling plant.
As the SoundScoop system is passive in operation, it requires no mains power supply or maintenance, making it a cost-effective solution for a busy school environment. It combines exceptional acoustic attenuation with very low airflow resistance enabling cross-flow ventilation between internal spaces of a building and, in the case of schools, compliance with both Building Bulletin 93 (acoustic design of schools) and Building Bulletin 101 (ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools). SoundScoops can also be fitted with a fire damper (by others) in fire walls to satisfy fire regulations.
Providing technical support both at the design and installation stages, the Passivent team worked closely with project partners Bullock Consulting Ltd (Mechanical and Electrical Consultants), specialist contractor Narbeths Mechanical Services Ltd, and local contractor TRJ (Betws) Ltd.
Sian James from Bullock Consulting commented, “The unique design of the SoundScoop cross-talk attenuator made it the perfect choice for attenuating noise between the classrooms and circulation spaces. As the SoundScoop is passive in operation and requires no energy to operate, this contributed greatly to the sustainability goals for the school.”
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