A class apart – students design school for Africa

Students at King Ecgbert School in Sheffield have won a challenge to design a community school in Uganda, by focusing on the needs of the local children. Andy Pearson explains how the industry-backed Class of Your Own initiative ignited a passion for building design and engineering among 13- and 14-year-olds

Chemical equilibrium – carbon neutral laboratory

The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham aims to be carbon neutral over its 25-year lifetime. Rebuilt after a fire gutted the site a year into construction, Andrew Brister reveals the energy strategy behind the £15.8m building

Creature comforts – David Attenborough Building

How do you turn a brutalist, uninsulated, concrete structure – housing the University of Cambridge’s zoology department – into a naturally ventilated showcase of sustainability that encourages collaboration between conservation groups? Andy Pearson finds out

Packard Foundation HQ: net zero energy CIBSE award winner

The team behind the Packard Foundation HQ, which won the international project of the year accolade at CIBSE’s awards, set out to encourage others in the US by creating a net zero energy building. Andy Pearson explains how they did it

Hoare Lea and Herzog & De Meuron’s Blavatnik School of Government

Herzog & De Meuron’s sleek, minimal design for University of Oxford’s school of government meant Hoare Lea’s mixed-mode ventilation system had to be discreet, as well as technically savvy. Executive mechanical engineer Richard Brimfield explains how the consultant worked within the architect’s design parameters to ensure the building performed well