The new two-storey classroom block at the Fonthill Road end of the Ferens Lawn will from September 2013 
house the Religious Studies department on the ground floor and the Geography Department on the first floor, as well as providing office, resources and display areas.
This in turn will release space in the Ferens building so we can expand our teaching areas for History/Politics, Modern Languages, Classics and Physical Education.
The building has been imaginatively designed by our architects, Mitchell Taylor Workshop, with whom we have worked closely over a number of months to ensure the building will deliver something very modern which blends comfortably with the historical surrounds.
The approach to achieving a sustainable design for the teaching block is, first and foremost, to maximise the opportunities for conserving resources and energy through good spatial design, passive environmental control, appropriate construction methods and high quality detailing.
This approach minimises the demand of the building on natural resources rather than using renewable energy sources to camouflage a conventional design.
Firstly, the demand for energy from the building has been reduced by considering the building's orientation, 
ensuring high levels of insulation, use of efficient glazing and high levels of air-tightness.
Secondly, the remaining load is met through the provision of the simple and efficient services solutions.
The adoption of simple systems will allow the occupants to easily interact with the building leading to efficient and effective operation.
The employment of large windows and shallow plan classrooms encourages the penetration of natural daylight and manual opening panels on the façade facilitate ventilation and cooling via natural means.
Deep window reveals and light shelves married with the rooflights ensure that the daylight can be utilised without creating glare within the spaces.
To reduce electrical consumption further, each of the classrooms will have daylight control, which will automatically switch off the lights when not required.
The high performance thermal insulation and glazing will keep the heating consumption to a minimum with the heat being provided by a high efficiency gas boiler.
The use of a low temperature heating system via underfloor heating will ensure that the boiler operates at its most efficient and individual control of each room will ensure efficient use of energy.