PUPILS at St Dunstan’s School, Glastonbury, have marked a significant step in eco-building by burying a time capsule on the site of their new Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) base.

The building is the first educational building in Somerset built to energy efficient Passivhaus specifications, helping minimise future running costs, protect the environment and designed to be net zero.

Staff, parents and students from the Park Road Support Centre Frome, part of St Dunstan’s School, who are moving to the new base, have gathered to bury the time capsule and visit the development during its construction.

Pupils included information about themselves and where they saw their future.

It is hoped future generations will discover the treasure and look back on the history of the school and town.

The ASC building is a project by Futures for Somerset, a partnership which includes Somerset County Council and BAM Construct.

It will cost £1.53million, is being built by C. G. Fry and is scheduled to be completed by June 2023 ready for the start of the academic year in September. It will cater for up to 16 pupils.

The construction features energy efficient and low environmental impact facilities, with high levels of insulation and triple glazing, low energy lighting, air source heat pumps and heat recycling through ventilation.

The building only uses electrical energy, mostly created by solar panels, feeding surplus electricity into the grid.

Cllr Tessa Munt, County Hall lead executive member for children and families, said: “It’s tremendously exciting to see this new eco-build - a first for our school building programme in Somerset.

"Eco-builds like this will help enormously with Somerset County Council’s battle against the climate emergency.

"Young people are telling us climate change is a top priority for them, so it’s nice to have them learning in a building where combating climate change is a fundamental part of the construction.

"That means future generations will be able one day to dig up the time capsule and see what life in Glastonbury and at St Dunstan’s was like in 2022 and how their forebears worked to make a better future for them."

Headteacher Sally Allen said: “Creating a time capsule is brilliant for children learning about the history of their local area.

"Current pupils will grow up knowing that future generations, possibly even their descendants, can discover what life was like for them.

"This amazing new building will also leave an impression on the future by creating its own energy and wasting as little in heat and light as possible, creating a cleaner environmental future.”