Designing for resilience: Modular timber schools for circular construction

With the construction industry responsible for 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, natural construction materials are key for the decarbonisation of the built environment. This research proposes the use of UK timber products to address school shortages through resource-efficient design and prefabrication. Building on previous government programmes, a novel design and construction system for modular, fully-demountable timber schools is proposed, the New Model School. A performance-driven design approach is followed, that simultaneously optimises material efficiency, embodied carbon, and biophilic and circularity principles. An extension to a primary school building in Cambridge, UK, is designed as a case study using homegrown timber. The results demonstrate that significant reductions in material and embodied carbon can be achieved, when compared to current practices — up to 70% per unit area. The dry construction system promotes circularity, with building components being fully-demountable and reusable. Deploying our proposal at scale would enable the UK to address school shortages on-time, using homegrown timber. Moreover, the system’s standardisation and modularity render it applicable to other programmes and regions. This research therefore proposes a new design and fabrication framework to address infrastructure shortages, promote natural construction materials and create healthy environments, while meeting environmental targets. • A novel kit-of-parts of engineered timber building components for modular schools. • Substantial material and carbon savings by using scale-appropriate systems—up to 70%. • All school shortages could be covered by only 7% of UK annual softwood production. • Our system meets LETI 2030 targets, even with international procurement scenarios. • Our kit-of-parts lends itself to other programmes, such as housing and offices.