EMPLOYEES from Springfield Properties recently visited pupils at Deans South Primary as the pupils learn about protecting the environment.
The 9–11-year-old primary 6 and 7s welcomed Springfield staff, who are regenerating the derelict housing site across from the school, to their classroom as they were keen to understand the steps housebuilders take to design and build their homes, with the environment in mind.
Springfield ESG manager Tom Gibbs and architect Steven Hallan explained the steps the firm takes ahead of construction to ensure the land isn’t home to protected or rare species and how the developments are designed to include green space, planting, and spaces to encourage biodiversity – such as hedgehog highways, badger tunnels and bat boxes.
They also went into detail about how Springfield design homes to ensure they are highly energy efficient by using timber from FSC-approved sources and thick insulation paired with innovative heating solutions, such as air source heat pumps and solar panels.
Deans Primary teacher Mrs Hillan said, “As Deans Primary is part of the Scottish Government’s eco-schools programme, we encourage the pupils to be environmentally aware. The class were really keen to understand how the houses they see getting built every day are made and what materials are used, especially from an environmentally conscious viewpoint. They spent time preparing questions for the Springfield team and were clearly engaged throughout the presentation as they gained new knowledge.”
Architect Steven Hallan added, “It’s great to see kids of that age so engaged in environmental issues, particularly in relation to our new build developments. Across the Springfield Group we take pride in doing the right thing and we regularly review our operations and challenge ourselves to improve the steps we take to reduce our business impact on the environment, and it was a pleasure to speak with the pupils at Deans Primary.”
