Educational buildings:

Colleges and student accommodation

Treloars College

College residences with full wheelchair access for special needs students

Treloars College is a boarding 
school providing education for 
young people with impairments 
between the ages of 11 and 18. 


The majority of  pupils are 
wheelchair users and the project 
was for a new residential
building which would encourage 
the young people to develop 
the independent living skills 
which they would need in later 
life.


Archadia's response was a 
two-storey building providing 
ten independent flats and 
common areas facing south 
west to take advantage of 
solar gain.


The production of a sustainable 
building was an important part 
of Archadia's thinking. 

The whole structure was highly 
insulated (walls 0.18, roofs 0.23, 
floors 0.12) with an NHER 
rating of 9.5/10.

Windows were triple glazed with 
integral blinds to south facing 
windows. Solar panels 
(evacuation heat pipes) positioned 
on the  back of the two-storey 
sloping roof facing SE provide 
75% of the hot water energy.

A central plant room is provided at 
first floor level with thermal stores 
and a small domestic boiler. A 
rainwater storage tank is 
incorporated in the ground 
adjacent to the building collecting 
rainwater from all the roofs and the 
water is reused for WC cistern 
flushing.

Under floor heating compatible with 
the appropriate carpet avoids 
radiators and allows the most to be 
made of small rooms. 

Medium density inner skin block 
walls allow flexible repositioning 
of bespoke equipment and provide 
thermal mass.

Key Facts

Fully wheelchair  accessible 
Encouraging independent living 
Sustainable building