McAuley Community School

The McAuley Community School is a new birth to Year 6 learning environment and Catholic Early Learning Centre (CELC), in Hove, South Australia, developed by Catholic Education South Australia (CESA)

The development comprises of three separate 2-storey buildings, two large undercover courtyard areas, and extensive native landscape outdoor learning and activity areas.

The school has achieved a 6 Star Green Star D&AB certified rating. As of completion, it was the first 6 Star rated school in South Australia.

Biophillic design principles were used to reflect the site’s coastal location by using bird wing forms in the external shading design, tree forms in the supporting structure, and the colour pallet in each learning environment representing the seasons, beach, sea, and jetty.

The following provides an overview of the sustainability features that are integrated into the project:

• Passive design to maximise natural daylight and ventilation.
• Incorporation of biophilic design in building features as well as creating direct connection to landscape and natural features for building occupants.
• A building engineering services design optimised using computer modelling integrative design techniques.
• Selection of energy efficient lighting and smart control systems.
• Heating and cooling is achieved through a combination of natural ventilation, Climate Wizard in-direct evaporative cooling units, duct mounted cooling coils connected to air-to-air heat pumps and gas fired condensing boilers feeding a series of duct mounted heating coils.
• Extensive metering and sub-metering for energy management, connected to a fully integrated Building Management System and Energy Management system.
• 99kW solar PV system to generate renewable energy on site and reduce electricity use and costs.
• Water efficient fixtures and the use of bore water for landscape irrigation.

See the school website.