Durisol's eco-friendly wall forming system is helping to cut the lifetime carbon footprint of a new building at a Devon school. External and internal walls of a single-storey extension at Caen Community Primary School in the village of Braunton are being constructed using fully recyclable Durisol modular units - a cement-bonded building product manufactured from 80% recycled wood fibre. In addition to the units' own low carbon footprint and low embedded energy, Durisol units can be specified with Rockwool mineral fibre insulation - a green insulation material - that allows U-values as low as 0.19, without additional insulation, thereby enhancing a building's overall energy efficiency rating.

Devon County Council works with property services partner NPS South West Ltd in Exeter - a subsidiary of NPS Property Consultants Ltd. Nicholas Johnson, Lead Architect at NPS South West is managing the design and construction of the 300m2 extension at Caen Community Primary School, which will provide pupils with three extra classrooms and a new toilet block. Durisol wall units were selected to complement the project's sustainable specification, he says: "We first read about Durisol in a trade magazine and logged on to their website to find out more. The product's green credentials are very impressive and the wall unit's innovative tongue and grooved locating profile assists alignment and enables quick and easy wall forming on site - saving both build time and costs." Durisol modular units are simply dry-stacked without mortar, and then filled with concrete to create solid walls with excellent thermal and sound insulation. In addition, the building's square, single storey design is ensuring high tensile strength which has eliminated the need for reinforcing bars - further reducing construction time and costs. The project's main contractor, Morgan Ashurst, is equally pleased with the Durisol product. Site Manager, Jack Cook, says: "Durisol wall units are really light to handle and the speed of build is a major benefit."

NPS South West has specified 365mm wide Durisol units with Rockwool mineral fibre insulation for the extension's external load bearing walls. At 365mm wide, these are the largest units in the Durisol range and have a sound reduction capability of 57dB. Durisol's 170mm units, without Rockwool insulation, are being used for internal walls with an acoustic rating of 55dB. All units have a structural core thickness of 120mm.

As Caen Community Primary School is located on a flood plain, materials used to build the extension must be able to withstand potential exposure to water. "Durisol units met this requirement as well," says Nicholas Johnson, "as they don't rot or decay and won't support fungal or bacterial growth - making them a really durable, green building solution."

Durisol and its licensees have been producing wood fibre and reinforced concrete products for over 50 years in Europe and also in North America, Australia, Russia and the Pacific Rim. In addition to wall form products for building, the company also has a portfolio of products and systems including noise barriers and retaining walls.