Hawkins\Brown wins AJ100 Sustainability Initiative of the Year for second time in a row

St Mary’s Voluntary Catholic Academy is the first completed school to meet the Department for Education’s GenZero specification.

The judges praised it for ‘leading by example as an open source prototype’. The school comprises five single-storey buildings linked by canopies. Every classroom opens to the outdoors, putting landscape at the heart of the educational experience.

The prototype project, intended as a pilot to shape the future direction of the GenZero initiative, is net zero in operational carbon, with embodied carbon at 440 kgCO₂e/m², well below the 540 kgCO₂e/m² RIBA 2030 target. This is achieved through extensive use of timber throughout the buildings. The floor is a polished structural slab with no screed. The academy is naturally ventilated with cross-ventilation in summer by a stack effect. Internal environmental conditions can be controlled by occupants; in addition, there are smart controls that are temperature and CO₂-activated. The all-electric scheme is supplied entirely by energy generated on site via rooftop PVs.

The prototype is not prescriptive. While St Mary’s was delivered through offsite construction as a ‘flat-pack’ school, the GenZero model could equally be delivered as a volumetric solution, brick-clad or with two storeys. The school was occupied in late 2023, and post-occupancy evaluation is currently under way, as well as a study exploring the effects of biophilia on the children’s learning. The Department for Education consulted with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice and the NHS in the development of St Mary’s, with the intention that this approach could be rolled out across government if demonstrated as successful.

The GenZero prototype is a timely demonstration of an alternative approach to net-zero school building to that underway in Scotland, where the Scottish Futures Trust is promoting a Passivhaus energy performance standard.

Judges highlighted the role of the public sector, applauding the Department for Education and praising the ambition of the shortlisted Delivering Net Zero report team in tackling the complexity of the planning system across 18 London boroughs.

Last year’s award went to a post-occupancy evaluation of a new neighbourhood at the Olympic Park, using a bespoke methodology developed by Hawkins\Brown.

Shortlisted

• Chetwoods for Baytree Nuneaton and the adoption of timber in the logistics sector
• HawkinsBrown for St Mary's Voluntary Catholic Academy
• Levitt Bernstein for the Delivering Net Zero study
• Perkins&Will for Shifting the Dial on Material Re-use in Fit-Out

Judges

• Duncan Baker-Brown, founder, BakerBrown Studio and Climate Literacy Champion, University of Brighton
• Chris Brown, director, Climatise
• Younha Rhee, associate director, Atelier Ten
• Diba Salam, founding principal and creative director, Studio DS