Reflective membranes deliver thermal efficiency and airtightness for Scotland’s first Passivhaus school

This building is the first local authority educational facility built in Scotland to achieve this accreditation, as certified by the Passivhaus Institute. The prestigious, state of the art £1.5 million Early Learning and Childcare centre in Blackridge was constructed for West Lothian Council by Morrison Construction through the Hub South East development framework.  The timber frame structure was built and supplied to site by Fleming Buildings, with Scott Brownrigg the appointed architect.  Featuring a pioneering design built to Passivhaus principles, the Blackridge project was handed over on schedule and within budget, helping to reduce overall energy use whilst fostering a comfortable learning environment for staff and children.

Our reflective membranes Protect VC Foil Ultra and Protect TF200 Thermo were used on this scheme for both the external and internal walls, enabling low emissivity, still airspaces to be created within the wall structure with the foil surface of the membranes facing into the wall cavity. This helped prevent heat loss from the structure and delivered a collective energy efficiency benefit on the wall’s overall thermal performance.  In particular, our internal air and vapour control layer Protect VC Foil Ultra was installed with Protect sealing tapes to help achieve an airtightness test result of 0.6 ACH@ 50 Pa, thereby ensuring Passivhaus compliance.