Schools survey

Introduction

The research considered 23 schools, for about 23.000 m3 (8 nursery schools, 9 primary schools and 6 secondary schools), mainly built between 1970 and 1986 using prefabricated techniques.

The survey of the buildings evidenced damages of some elements of the envelope and a general bad maintenance of the buildings; some panels of the facade showed significant deformations and corrosion probably due to water infiltrations.

Most of the windows were seriously damaged, sealing is very poor and in some cases plastic sheets (Plexiglas) take the place of glass in the window.

Figure 1: L. Tempesta primary school — Catania

Thermal condition inside the classrooms are generally quite uncomfortable. During the surveys and the interviews some teachers gave us the following information:

— significant overheating in warmer seasons;

— cold problems during winter time, mainly in the north facing classrooms (due to poor window sealing).

During the month of May 2002, measurements of air temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were carried out in same reference classrooms.

The worst conditions were measured in the classrooms located under the roof: the measured average air temperature was about 31°C with poor ventilation and the value of unsatisfied students was around 71%.