A BUILDING site has doubled as a classroom for children to learn about the materials being used to reduce their eco-school’s carbon footprint.

New classrooms at St John Southworth RC Primary in Nelson are being built by Rosslee Construction out of Wienerberger’s Porotherm thermal clay blocks.

They will include Second Nature’s sheep’s wool Thermafleece and Edenbloc recycled carpets.

Pupils, who were consulted on the design of the new building, have been on-site learning about the advantages of using natural and thermally-efficient materials.

The designer, Emma Palmer from Campbell Driver Partnership, said: “Environmental awareness is very important for the school which has embraced the eco agenda and incorporated green issues into all parts of the curriculum.

“It follows, therefore, that the new school extension should be as eco-friendly as possible and one of the best ways of doing that is to use products from natural and recycled sources, in this instance clay blocks, sheep’s wool and old carpets.

“These, when combined, also help to improve the thermal efficiency of the 1970s building - reducing energy use and carbon emissions. Other measures, such as the contractors using recycled rainwater as much as they can, are also contributing to this being an extremely sustainable project.”

The new build sections will extend and refurbish the old 1970s block which is used as classrooms for year one and reception pupils.

Part funded by the school, the diocese and the local authority, the project is set for completion before the start of the new term in September.

Headteacher Margaret Borman said: “It was important for us to partner with a design and construction team that would buy into our eco-school ethos and we’re delighted with the amount of natural materials, recycled content and water saving that the project team has been able to achieve.

“Events like this are a great way to keep the children interested and we’re delighted that everyone has given up their time to get involved.”