Kent Independent School

The Brief

An independent day school in West Kent commissioned a new academic building to house science laboratories, humanities classrooms and a sixth-form study centre. The architect targeted BREEAM Excellent, which required demonstrable performance across daylighting, energy and occupant wellbeing criteria. The building’s south and west façades feature extensive glazing to maximise natural light — but without shading, TM59 modelling showed the south-facing classrooms would overheat for more than 50 hours per year in future weather files.

Our Approach

We worked with the project’s BREEAM assessor and M&E consultant to develop a layered shading strategy. On the south façade, external motorised roller screens with 3% openness mesh fabric are the primary solar control layer. They deploy automatically via a building management system trigger at 300W/m² solar intensity and retract at 200W/m² or when wind speed exceeds the design threshold. The screens reduce solar heat gain by 88% compared to unscreened glazing, taking all south-facing classrooms below the TM59 operative temperature threshold.

The west-facing study centre glazing is served by motorised internal roller blinds in a high-reflectance 3% openness white fabric. While less effective than external shading for solar heat gain, this was the architect’s preference for the west elevation where the building’s architectural expression did not accommodate external cassette systems. The BREEAM assessor accepted this as compliant with the daylighting credit methodology.

Glare Control

A separate glare control layer — motorised semi-transparent diffusing roller blinds — was specified for all teaching spaces facing east and south. These operate independently of the solar shading layer, allowing teachers to manage screen glare without deploying full solar shading. The glare blinds use a 3% openness white fabric that diffuses direct sunlight whilst maintaining approximately 10% light transmission — sufficient for teaching without switching to electric light.

Programme

Installation was coordinated with the main contractor during the final two weeks of the build programme, prior to practical completion. We supplied product data in BIM-compatible format for the project’s as-built record. All motors were commissioned and tested by our installation team with the school’s facilities manager present, and a maintenance schedule was handed over at practical completion.