Earlston Community Hub

State of the art new primary school and community campus in Earlston for Scottish Borders Council on the site of the existing facility.

The new Earlston Community Campus provides a multi-functional facility, designed to offer flexibility of changing roles. The campus features three distinct building areas; the primary school, community area and GP surgery. Each section has its own distinct access and use but the community and school areas are designed to work efficiently both as a separate or combined facility.

The campus utility masterplan requires a robust and detailed solution taking cognisance of the new and emerging housing developments in the local community, and the adjacent Leader Valley school which takes a number of services from the existing school.

The building itself has been design with strong passive ‘fabric first’ design measures aiming to utilise as much of the natural heating and cooling potential from the environment as possible. Large southern shading overhangs provide a unique architectural feature but strategically prevent overheating in summer whilst allowing complimentary solar gains to the space in winter.

All sections of the building are designed with foresight of Scotland’s ‘all-electric future’, featuring heat pump technology production of heating and hot water and low energy fan technology. All spaces feature a mixed-mode ventilation strategy to maximise free cooling in summer and heat recovery during winter.