SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT Supports Passive House Education Facility in Leeds

Project Overview

Following the successful passive house collaboration on the Duck End Barns project, Timber Innovations once again turned to SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT for a landmark education development in Leeds.

Set within the historic grounds of Temple Newsam, Leeds City College's School of Animal Care and Land Management is undergoing a £6 million expansion designed to inspire the next generation of animal care, conservation and land management professionals. The new state-of-the-art facility will provide space for more than 300 students and includes a professional dog grooming salon, multiple classrooms, and dedicated reception and support areas.

With sustainability at the heart of the design, the building has been developed around passive house principles to create a comfortable, energy-efficient learning environment. For Timber Innovations, selecting the right airtightness solution would play a vital role in helping to achieve the project's ambitious performance goals.

Challenge

Educational buildings place unique demands on designers and contractors. Not only must they provide comfortable, healthy spaces for learning, but they must also operate efficiently for generations to come.

For the Leeds City College project, the team set out to create a building that aligned with passive house principles, requiring exceptional levels of airtightness and thermal performance. Achieving this within a timber frame structure meant ensuring a consistent and reliable airtight layer across the entire building envelope.

With multiple teaching spaces, support facilities and communal areas to accommodate, every detail mattered. The challenge was to deliver the airtightness required for a low-energy building while maintaining an efficient construction programme and the high standards expected of a modern educational facility.

Solution

Drawing on previous experience with SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT, Timber Innovations incorporated the panel as part of the building envelope strategy to help create a continuous airtight layer throughout the timber frame construction.

SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT was key to the award-winning Larsen Truss twin-stud wall system used on the project, recognised for its ability to reduce thermal bridging and simplify construction. The panels helped achieve the Passivhaus airtightness standard of 0.6 Air Changes per Hour (ACH), replacing traditional airtight membranes with an easier, more effective solution.

SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT combines the structural performance of OSB/3 with an integrated vapour control layer, helping to reduce uncontrolled air leakage while simplifying installation on site. Its suitability for timber frame and offsite construction made it a natural fit for the project, supporting both buildability and performance objectives.

Timber Innovations have also invested with SMARTPLY to undertake load bearing, full scale fire tests to BS EN 1363:2020 to give our clients the technical data that they need when specifying us for education projects such as this exemplar scheme.

The completed development will help Leeds City College meet growing demand for specialist land-based education while providing students and staff with a comfortable, high-performance learning environment. It stands as another example of how SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT can support the delivery of low-energy buildings where long-term sustainability, occupant wellbeing and construction quality are key priorities.

About Timber Innovations

Timber Innovations has been at the forefront of low-energy and Passivhaus construction for 14 years, specialising in timber frames and SIPs for schools, hospitals and office projects. With a team of 30 experts, the company serves self-builders, developers and main contractors.

www.timberinnovations.co.uk/