St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Derby suffered a devastating fire in October 2020, demolishing the site. Three years after the blaze a new multi-million-pound school has risen from the ashes to become the UK’s greenest school.
St Mary’s is the country’s first biophilic school and has been built as part of a pilot project for the Department for Education (DfE).
Biophilic design focuses on connecting those inside, with nature, to promote physical and mental health. The goal for St Mary’s is to be net zero carbon in operation where the amount of carbon emissions added is no more than the amount taken away, making it the UK’s greenest school.
Horizon Landscapes are Landscape and Grounds Maintenance Contractors based In Nottingham. They were awarded the tree planting and soft landscaping contract for this pilot project.
As part of the landscape strategy, 100 new trees were planted, many of which were semi- mature to help the school become quickly embedded in the Biophilic landscape. Additional landscape features include rain gardens, season bulb planting, green roof, and wildflower meadows to maximise biodiversity and local ecology.
