- Title: UK: Disaster zone shelters help Hounslow school reduce jet noise
- Date: 8th July 2013
- Summary: HOUNSLOW, LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) AIRPLANE FLYING OVER HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD/TILT DOWN TO CHILDREN PLAYING ON SUPERADOBE STRUCTURES AIRPLANE FLYING OVER SUPERADOBE STRUCTURE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING INSIDE PURPOSE-BUILT SUPERADOBE SHELTER PAN FROM CHILDREN PLAYING INSIDE SHELTER TO ITS CURVED ROOF PAN FROM JULIAN FAULKNER, SUPERADOBE SHELTER DESIGNER AND CEO OF SMALL EARTH LTD, STANDING NEXT TO SHELTER, TO AIRPLANE ABOVE (SOUNDBITE) (English) JULIAN FAULKNER, SUPERADOBE SHELTER DESIGNER AND CEO OF SMALL EARTH LTD, SAYING: "As you can hear we've got airplanes coming over this playground every 60 to 90 seconds and when they're coming in on the southern runway the flights are coming straight over this school here, about 600 foot above our heads and the noise is absolutely deafening." VARIOUS OF PLANES GOING OVERHEAD CHILDREN PLAYING OUTSIDE PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD VARIOUS OF KATHRYN HARPER-QUINN, HEADTEACHER AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, TALKING TO CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (English) KATHRYN HARPER-QUINN, HEADTEACHER AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, SAYING: "The noise is relentless when the flights are on the southern runway. They cross every 60 to 90 seconds and during that time we lose 30 seconds of an opportunity to be heard and, as you can imagine, that would impact on every single lesson that you're having inside or outside. The children find it difficult to concentrate, they have to stop, the teacher has to repeat what's been said, and therefore a lesson that should take 15 minutes will take longer and even within that time they will miss a lot of what they're supposed to have heard." VARIOUS OF PLANES GOING OVERHEAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERT, PUPIL AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, SAYING: "It's really noisy and it hurts your ears." (SOUNDBITE) (English) OWEDA, PUPIL AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, SAYING: "Outside it's very noisy because of the aeroplanes, so when I'm trying to talk with my friends it disturbs me." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ELLA, PUPIL AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, SAYING: "It's really noisy because when you, like, have lessons after when the plane comes you can't just catch what the teacher's saying." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING INSIDE SMALLER PLAYGROUND SUPERADOBE SHELTERS PLANE GOING OVERHEAD, FILMED THROUGH SUPERADOBE WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (English) JULIAN FAULKNER, SUPERADOBE SHELTER DESIGNER AND CEO OF SMALL EARTH LTD, SAYING: "Once this tube has been filled with earth and laid into a coil we'll then put a layer of barbed wire over the top of that before we put the next layer of tube down on top and the barbed wire it acts like velcro, it's incredibly sticky so it will catch hold of this bag and it will prevent any lateral movement, will prevent lateral slip, but it will also stick the bag together. Once we compact the layer on top it also, that compaction also puts this barbed wire under tension and it acts like a miniature ringbeam." FAULKNER HOLDING BUILDING MATERIALS (SOUNDBITE) (English) JULIAN FAULKNER, SUPERADOBE SHELTER DESIGNER AND CEO OF SMALL EARTH LTD, SAYING: "If you've got a few mates and a bit of land you could feasibly build a three-bedroom house for something in the region of about 10,000 pounds. It's got that level of affordability. The labour cost on these buildings is the thing that pushes the price up but if you've got a community, you're doing them as a community build then really we're just talking about woven polypropylene tubing and barbed wire as being the main building components." MORE OF CHILDREN IN PLAYGROUND PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) KATHRYN HARPER-QUINN, HEADTEACHER AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL, SAYING: "We think they're incredibly useful, we find them very very adaptable and flexible and have allowed us to build our earth curriculum around the sorts of activities that we can now provide for the children and they do provide some shelter from the noise, which is hugely important." PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD PULLOUT FROM SPIDER AT TOP OF SUPERADOBE SHELTER TO WHOLE OF ROOF VARIOUS OF LESSON INSIDE SUPERADOBE SHELTER
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Education,Environment,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVAA9UCMF0I0AFYATBZYGG20E5U3
- Story Text: Faced with unbearable noise made by transatlantic jets passing overhead every 90 seconds, Kathryn Harper-Quinn, headteacher of a primary school directly beneath London's Heathrow flypath, came up with an innovative solution. She called Small Earth, a British company specialising in constructing superadobe domes designed for earthquake and emergency zones in Asia and Africa.
Julian Faulkner, Small Earth's CEO, had erected around 70 of the structures, predominantly in Nepal's earthquake-prone Kathmandu valley. When he visited Hounslow Heath school he immediately understood the problem and resolved to help.
"As you can hear we've got airplanes coming over this playground every 60 to 90 seconds and when they're coming in on the southern runway the flights are coming straight over this school here, about 600 foot above our heads and the noise is absolutely deafening," said Faulkner.
Before the erection of one large superadobe shelter and three smaller substructures in the school playground, Harper-Quinn said her teaching colleagues and pupils were at their wits' end. "The noise is relentless when the flights are on the southern runway. They cross every 60 to 90 seconds and during that time we lose 30 seconds of an opportunity to be heard and, as you can imagine, that would impact on every single lesson that you're having inside or outside. The children find it difficult to concentrate, they have to stop, the teacher has to repeat what's been said, and therefore a lesson that should take 15 minutes will take longer and even within that time they will miss a lot of what they're supposed to have heard," she said.
Her young pupils agreed. "It's really noisy and it hurts your ears," said Robert. Oweda agreed, saying: "Outside it's very noisy because of the aeroplanes, so when I'm trying to talk with my friends it disturbs me." "It's really noisy because when you, like, have lessons after when the plane comes you can't just catch what the teacher's saying," added Ella.
Constructed from coiled bags of earth, the domes have reduced the roar from incoming aeroplanes by 17 decibels for pupils inside. Classes of up to 30 can be seated inside the main dome, which has a diameter of 5.2 metres, with space for more in a sunken amphitheatre outside, two and a half metres below ground.
Faulkner said the structures were sturdy but relatively simple to make, involving minimal materials - just a length of woven polypropylene tubing and barbed wire. This made them ideal for use in emergency zones, because the main building material - Earth - could be dug from the location where the structure is constructed, reducing transportation costs considerably. The tension of the barbed wire makes the dome structurally sound, while its self-supporting stability means it can be built with foundations of less than one third of a metre.
"Once this tube has been filled with earth and laid into a coil we'll then put a layer of barbed wire over the top of that before we put the next layer of tube down on top and the barbed wire it acts like velcro, it's incredibly sticky so it will catch hold of this bag and it will prevent any lateral movement, will prevent lateral slip, but it will also stick the bag together. Once we compact the layer on top it also, that compaction also puts this barbed wire under tension and it acts like a miniature ringbeam," said Faulkner.
The superadobe design was an invention of Iranian architect Nader Khalili, originally with a view to lunar settlements but first employed in a refugee crisis after the 1990-91 Gulf war. The buildings can withstand tremors with a magnitude of up to 5.7. Faulkner modified his usual designs to fit the school's requirements, jettisoning the usual windows and door frames, and believes his superadobe structures could play an important part in Britain's housing shortage. One advantage is that they can be built practically anywhere, including on hillsides, unlike most housing developments which require a flat surface.
"If you've got a few mates and a bit of land you could feasibly build a three-bedroom house for something in the region of about 10,000 pounds. It's got that level of affordability. The labour cost on these buildings is the thing that pushes the price up but if you've got a community, you're doing them as a community build then really we're just talking about woven polypropylene tubing and barbed wire as being the main building components," he said.
Harper-Quinn is delighted with the results and says the children love playing inside the domes and having their lessons there. "We think they're incredibly useful, we find them very very adaptable and flexible and have allowed us to build our earth curriculum around the sorts of activities that we can now provide for the children and they do provide some shelter from the noise, which is hugely important," she said.
Another Hounslow primary nearby and a school in neighbouring Slough have commissioned their own adobes from Faulkner's firm, Small Earth. With the possibility of a third runway being built at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, more schools may find themselves affected by aircraft noise, and Faulkner may find himself unexpectedly more in demand at home than in endangered lands abroad. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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