A school heating upgrade rarely calls for a single heating type across the whole building. Classrooms, offices, and staff rooms need heat that responds quickly to changing occupancy, while sports halls and assembly spaces need consistent, draught-free warmth without air movement or ball impact risk. SPC supplies both Belgravia Fan Convectors and Thermatile radiant panels for exactly this reason: matching the right heating type to each space, rather than fitting one system throughout, is what makes a school heating upgrade genuinely work.
Why does a school heating upgrade need more than one type of heating?
Schools have varying spaces with very different heating demands. A classroom might be empty one period and full of thirty pupils the next, so it needs heat that responds fast. A sports hall, by contrast, is a large, high-ceilinged volume that’s occupied for longer stretches and needs heating that won’t interfere with ball games or dusty air quality. Treating every space the same way during a refurbishment usually means compromising somewhere, either overheating quiet rooms or leaving large halls cold and inconsistent.
Where do Fan Convectors fit into a school heating upgrade?
Belgravia Fan Convectors suit spaces with changing occupancy: classrooms, staff rooms, and offices. They warm up rapidly and distribute heat evenly through the room, which matters where lessons start and finish on a timetable rather than running continuously. Active LST (Low Surface Temperature) fan convector models keep casing temperatures below 43°C, meeting NHS safety guidance that many schools also apply, and the Belgravia Supreme’s rounded casing removes sharp corners in busy corridors and classrooms.
Where do Radiant Panels fit into a school heating upgrade?
Thermatile radiant panels are often chosen for sports halls, assembly halls, and large open spaces because they transfer heat directly to people and surfaces rather than heating the air, there’s no fan noise and no air movement to circulate dust, a genuine consideration in shared teaching spaces. In sports halls specifically, SPC’s radiant panels are available with ball guard protection, tested to DIN 18032, so games can continue without risking damage to the panels or trapped equipment above them. Cannock Chase High School in Staffordshire specified this configuration for its sports hall as part of a wider heating upgrade.
Can Fan Convectors and Radiant Panels run from the same heating system?
Yes. Both ranges are designed to work with low-temperature hot water systems, including those fed by heat pumps, which matters where a school is upgrading its heat source as part of a wider decarbonisation project. Fan convectors specified with enhanced or low-flow heat exchangers, and Thermatile panels operating at 45 to 50°C flow temperature, can both be served from the same low-temperature circuit. This means a school doesn’t need to choose one product family over the other to hit its sustainability targets; the heat source and both heat emitter types can be specified together from the outset.
What does a combined installation look like in practice?
Barton Court Grammar School, Canterbury and Towers School & Sixth Form Centre, Dover are among some schools where SPC’s fan convectors have been specified for classroom and teaching spaces, while Cannock Chase High School shows the same approach applied to a sports hall using radiant panels. Specifying both product families under one project allows an estates team or M&E consultant to work with a single manufacturer across every room type, rather than sourcing classroom and hall heating separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Both ranges support BMS integration, so a school can monitor and control classroom fan convectors and sports hall radiant panels from a single system rather than managing two separate control setups.
They can be installed in the same phase and, in many cases, by the same contractor. Both ranges are supplied by SPC from Leicester, so specification, lead times, and technical support run through a single point of contact rather than two separate supply chains.
Classrooms and offices are usually prioritised first, since fan convectors address the most frequently used teaching spaces. Sports halls and assembly spaces can be phased in later using radiant panels, provided the heat source is sized with future expansion in mind from the outset.
Fan convectors have accessible filters that need periodic checking, typically during holiday windows to avoid disrupting lessons. Thermatile radiant panels have no fans or filters, so routine maintenance needs are minimal once installed.
There’s no minimum. SPC’s radiant panels have been specified in classrooms at Marlborough College and St Luke’s Primary School, Brighton, as well as in smaller-scale spaces such as the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Liskeard Library, Cornwall. Larger, higher-ceilinged spaces such as sports halls are a strong fit because radiant heat avoids the temperature stratification that convection struggles with at height, though fan convectors are sometimes chosen for these spaces too when rapid warm-up from cold is the priority over radiant comfort.
Talk to SPC About Your School Heating Project
If you’re planning a school heating upgrade covering more than one building type, from classrooms to sports halls, our team can help you specify the right combination of fan convectors and radiant panels for each space.