Liverpool school gets green light for timber and straw classroom

Rudston Infant School in Childwall has been granted permission for an outdoor classroom - which will be made of straw, green oak, cedar shingles and tyres.

Architect Alison Jardine, working for Liverpool's Michael Cunningham Architects, started work on the classroom this week, which is due to be completed in time for the new school year in September.

100 straw bales will be based around an exposed timber frame made of green oak. The oak will come from fallen trees that once stood in Liverpool's parks supplied by a tree surgeon in Woolton while the straw will be sourced from a farm in Yorkshire and the cedar shingles will come from Cornwall.

There are only 40 other straw bale buildings across the UK. This is thought to be the first to be built in the North West.

The building will be fireproof and waterproof and built on rammed tyre foundations.

The materials are fast growing and renewable, and the straw bale structure can last up to 100 years.

The project was funded through eco-building allowances.