The UK's School Ventilation Deficit Shows Why Retrofit Can No Longer Wait

Tuesday 21 July 2026

Book the NLA Awards Lunch 2026

Subscribe to NLA's newsletter

Head of UK Specification
Airflow

The UK's School Ventilation Deficit Shows Why Retrofit Can No Longer Wait

Poor ventilation is affecting classrooms across the UK, yet many schools still lack the systems needed to monitor and manage indoor air quality effectively.

Ian Palmer, Head of UK Specification at Airflow, explores why ventilation must become a priority in school refurbishment, and how smarter systems can create healthier, more resilient learning environments.

Airflow is sponsoring the Education category at the NLA Awards 2026. Join us at the NLA Awards Lunch on 19 November to celebrate the projects shaping a better city. Book your place now.

With more than 1,000 UK schools closing in June due to increasing heatwaves, conversation has returned to how schools can create healthier, more resilient learning environments. While overheating remains a challenge in many classrooms, one of the biggest obstacles to pupil performance is largely undiscussed: poor indoor air quality.

New research has revealed the scale of this challenge across UK schools, with the majority of buildings still lacking the ventilation infrastructure needed to provide consistently healthy indoor environments. As expectations around energy efficiency and building performance continue to rise, these findings highlight why ventilation must become a greater priority within both refurbishment programmes and future school design.

A significant ventilation gap

Airflow's recent Smart Ventilation in Schools Report, based on responses from more than 500 schools across the UK, found that 79% of schools do not currently have smart ventilation systems in place. More concerning still, almost a third (29%) operate without carbon dioxide (CO₂) monitoring, leaving many schools unable to identify when indoor air quality deteriorates throughout the day.

This matters because CO₂ is one of the clearest indicators of ventilation performance. As classroom occupancy increases, CO₂ levels naturally rise if fresh air is not introduced at an adequate rate. Elevated concentrations have been linked to reduced concentration, impaired decision-making, headaches and fatigue, all of which can directly affect learning outcomes and staff wellbeing.

For schools striving to improve attainment and create healthier learning environments, understanding and managing indoor air quality should be viewed as a fundamental requirement rather than an optional extra.

The growing retrofit challenge

Many outdated school buildings were designed decades before today's understanding of indoor air quality or modern energy efficiency standards. While building insulation and airtightness have drastically improved in recent years, ventilation systems have not always kept pace.

This creates a growing challenge. Buildings that are better insulated but inadequately ventilated can trap pollutants indoors, allowing CO₂ and other contaminants to accumulate more quickly throughout the school day.

At the same time, the government's continued emphasis on higher-performing buildings, including greater use of mechanical ventilation and heat recovery technologies in new developments, highlights the widening gap between new construction standards and the existing school estate.

For the thousands of schools occupying older buildings, retrofit is becoming increasingly important if they are to deliver healthier classrooms while meeting energy efficiency objectives.

Monitoring alone isn't enough

Installing CO₂ monitors represents an important first step, providing facilities teams with valuable insight into classroom conditions. However, monitoring does not solve the problem, but merely identifies it.

Many schools continue to rely primarily on opening windows for ventilation. While this approach can help under favourable weather conditions, it often proves inconsistent. External noise, outdoor pollution, weather conditions and safeguarding considerations frequently limit how effectively natural ventilation can be used throughout the year.

Survey responses from schools also identified a range of practical barriers, including limited budgets, ageing infrastructure and difficulty maintaining acceptable CO₂ levels during afternoon lessons, even where monitoring systems are already in place.

These challenges demonstrate why a more reliable approach to ventilation is needed.

Smart ventilation delivers consistent performance

Smart ventilation systems provide a more controlled solution by continuously monitoring indoor conditions and automatically adjusting airflow to maintain healthy environments.

Rather than relying on manual intervention, sensors measure factors such as CO₂ concentration, occupancy and temperature, allowing ventilation rates to respond in real time. This helps maintain consistently high indoor air quality while minimising unnecessary energy use.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems can also improve efficiency by recovering heat from outgoing air during colder months before introducing fresh, filtered air into occupied spaces. During warmer weather, summer bypass functions and integrated cooling options can help maintain comfortable classroom temperatures without compromising air quality.

Modern systems also allow facilities managers to remotely monitor and manage performance across multiple buildings, providing greater visibility while simplifying ongoing maintenance.

Importantly, these technologies can be incorporated into both new school developments and retrofit projects, making them suitable for the diverse range of buildings found across the education estate.

Government investment creates an opportunity

With the government recently committing £2.1 billion into the school estate, investment programmes for school maintenance and refurbishment present an opportunity to address ventilation alongside wider building improvements.

As schools undertake repairs, energy efficiency upgrades and estate modernisation projects, ventilation should be considered as a core element of long-term building performance rather than an isolated mechanical service.

Integrating smart ventilation into refurbishment programmes enables schools to improve indoor air quality while supporting energy efficiency, regulatory compliance and occupant wellbeing simultaneously.

Investing in healthier schools

The conversation around school buildings is evolving. Alongside concerns around sustainability, energy costs and overheating, there is growing recognition that indoor air quality in schools has a direct impact on educational outcomes.

The findings from the Smart Ventilation in Schools Report demonstrate that significant work remains to modernise ventilation across much of the UK's school estate. However, they also highlight a clear opportunity.

By combining CO₂ monitoring with intelligent ventilation systems, schools can move beyond simply identifying poor air quality and begin actively addressing it. As refurbishment programmes continue across the education sector, prioritising ventilation will help create classrooms that support concentration, wellbeing and long-term health.

Clean air should not be considered a luxury within education buildings. It is a fundamental part of creating learning environments where pupils and teachers can perform at their best.

Book the NLA Awards Lunch 2026

Subscribe to NLA's newsletter

Ian Palmer

Head of UK Specification
Airflow