TG Escapes Blog

Keeping SEND Students Warm in Our Winter-Ready Modular Classrooms

by Chris Leese | Oct 24, 2024 | Blog, Education

With winter approaching, we've taken a look at how our team optimises our SEND buildings around the worst that UK weather can throw at them, creating warm, comfortable spaces that still meet net zero in operation year-round. We achieve this with high-quality insulation, specialist foundations, air source heat pumps and MVHR systems, alongside the timber that makes up our frames and panelling.

Designing buildings for the UK market requires accommodating both blistering heatwaves and sub-zero winters. This is exceptionally important in classrooms, where temperature plays a crucial role in keeping children healthy and engaged, particularly so in SEND environments. TG Escapes builds permanent modular classrooms and larger school buildings across the UK, many of them for specialist provision. 

By designing, manufacturing, and installing each of our buildings in-house, we can accommodate a range of structural and technological elements that keep temperatures regulated for SEND students all winter, ensuring a calming, comfortable, and productive learning environment.

TG Escapes modular school building in winter

What temperature should SEND classrooms be?

Legally, classrooms and other educational facilities have no minimum or maximum temperature rule, though the government states all workspaces should be at a “reasonable” temperature. The National Education Union states that all school classrooms should be at least 18ºC, with a 2019 study arguing that keeping classroom temperature in the low 20s had a positive impact on academic performance compared to higher temperatures.

For SEND classrooms, these same rules apply, and there are some additional guidelines within the Building Bulletin “Designing for disabled children and children with special educational needs”. The guidelines call for easily adjustable local heating controls and risk assessments before installing standard radiators, with lower temperature variants available. They also provide guidance around ideal temperatures for SEND schools.

  • 18°C–21°C: This is the standard for mainstream schools, and is appropriate for ambulent pupils, even in static classroom environments.
  • 23°C: For special schools, where pupils have complex needs including physical difficulties, a higher temperature is recommended.
  • 25°C–30°C: Higher temperatures can be needed for wet environments, changing rooms, or medical rooms. Minimising air speed is also important in these spaces.
  • 28°C: This temperature would be considered overheating within a mainstream school, but certain SEND pupils could be uncomfortable at lower temperatures, making it important to take their needs into account.

Dealing with brutal UK winters

SEND buildings will need to be able to bear the brunt of unpleasant UK winters, where temperatures can drop below freezing, especially in Scotland, Northern England, and parts of Wales. During snowfall, easy access to buildings for non-ambulant pupils, such as those in wheelchairs, should also be prioritised.

Exterior of Ratcliffe College modular school building

Creating comfortable environments in our modular buildings

School buildings need to be usable all year round, which for our team starts from the design stage, with our in-house architects building on detailed site surveys. The modular approach allows us a great degree of flexibility, which, in conjunction with modern heating and ventilation systems, allows us to keep our SEND buildings at the ideal temperatures for students throughout winter. Here are some of the crucial elements that make up our approach.

Insulation

We utilise an insulated timber cassette panel system within our buildings, offering an excellent level of thermal performance. As standard, we use 80% recycled glass wool insulation across our full range, and can also augment this with multi-foil insulation. It’s crucial to insulate the thermal envelope of a building (the floor, walls, and ceiling), but within SEND buildings acoustic insulation will be needed within internal walls, to keep classrooms comfortable for students.

Timber

We construct our buildings from timber frames and panelling. Utilising an off-site manufacturing process allows us to closely adhere to design blueprints, ensuring airtight structures. The timber itself is also a natural insulator, offering a far superior performance than comparable materials thanks to its cellular structure, which performs up to 15 times better than masonry. Timber can also help to moderate humidity within a building, improving air quality. There are numerous other benefits to SEND students from natural materials like timber, with biophilic design offering a range of advantages to autistic pupils.

Several frames being built within TG Escapes manufacturing area

We construct all frames and panelling at our manufacturing facility in Coventry

Specialist foundations

Our team can use a range of foundations for our buildings, which can be designed to incorporate insulation. We use a pad and pile system as standard, which reduces concrete use while still offering great thermal performance. For certain projects, we’ve used both warm and cold raft foundations, which are built around a layer of insulation. Our designers look to prioritise environmental factors, the needs of the school, and thermal performance when selecting the best foundation for each project.

Air source heat pumps

Air source heat pumps offer a highly efficient temperature regulation method across SEND buildings. They work by extracting heat from the outside air, even in winter, and transferring it indoors via a heat exchanger. This system efficiently warms classrooms by circulating heated water through radiators or underfloor heating. They help schools maintain a consistent and comfortable temperature, ensuring SEND students stay warm during the coldest winter days. They also form a crucial aspect of our energy-saving approach across a building.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems ensures fresh, filtered air circulates through school buildings without losing heat in the winter. This system works by extracting stale air from areas like bathrooms and kitchens and transferring its heat to the incoming fresh air before it enters learning spaces. In our modular classrooms, MVHR not only maintains excellent air quality but also reduces heat loss, ensuring energy efficiency even during winter.

Keeping net-zero in operation

SEND Net Zero Building at Sir Charles Parsons Overview

Post 16 campus at Sir Charles Parsons Special School

TG Escapes have long prioritised sustainability across our projects, and today we’re proud to achieve net-zero in operation as standard across every building we design. We meet this through a range of design techniques, including high levels of insulation, timber frames, and prioritising natural light within classrooms. We also meet it through technology, installing high-performance solar panels, alongside MVHR and air source heat pump systems to minimise heat loss. This ensures that we can keep SEND students comfortable year-round while offering market-leading energy efficiency.

Some of our SEND projects

Modular timber frame building for Visually Impaired SEND at Woking High School

Our SEND hub at Woking High School

Every building our team produces is completely bespoke, built through a turnkey system featuring design, manufacture, installation, and all finishing work. We’ve worked with mainstream and specialist schools across the UK on SEND facilities, ranging from single classrooms to larger blocks. Here are two recent projects showcasing the scope of our work:

  • SEND Hub at Woking High School:  We worked with Woking High School on this SEND hub designed around visually impaired students. Comprised of 3 classrooms, breakout spaces, offices and toilets, it was built around an excellent level of acoustic insulation to help create a calm, positive environment for students. Receiving 5-star feedback from the client, the building is net zero in operation. Read more here.
  • Sir Charles Parsons SEND Building: Our second for Sir Charles Parsons, offering children with complex needs specialised learning areas, this project has been shortlisted for the 2024 Education Estates Student Experience Award. Pete Trumper, School Organisation and Capital Specialist at Newcastle City Council, said “The quality of the finished product is exceptionally good”. Read the full story here.

Partnering with TG Escapes

From standalone learning spaces to large school blocks, our modular approach creates attractive, functional, and comfortable learning environments tailored for permanent year-round use. Every project we work on starts with a complementary design process, after which we can showcase a fully costed design. If your school requires a quality new SEND space, speak to a member of our team today.

About the author

Chris Leese
Technical Director coordinating projects with Architects. Having one foot in the academic world and the other in a building site, an interest in low carbon buildings such as Passivhaus led to timber construction methods. Single story eco-schools and five-storey apartments, made an appearance while his academic research includes sustainable retrofit, structurally insulated panels and cross-laminated timber construction methods. Projects include a -six-storey steel timber hybrid structure in London, A Glulam Framed Ecology Centre for the Barking Riverside, and Chris undertook feasibly on the new Google headquarters in London .

More posts from our blog

Going Beyond Accessibility in Modular SEND Buildings

Going Beyond Accessibility in Modular SEND Buildings

There is a great need for quality new SEND facilities within UK schools, both mainstream and specialist, offering a stellar opportunity to create spaces that go above and beyond to support these students. By creating sensory-rich, adaptable, and natural spaces, we can...

read more