How Green is your Building?
Over twenty new building developments across the UK are to be subjected to a detailed and intensive assessment of their environmental impact in the first phase of a four year programme that will help to deliver more energy efficient, better performing buildings.
(PRWeb UK) December 18, 2010
Over twenty new building developments across the UK are to be subjected to a detailed and intensive assessment of their environmental impact in the first phase of a four year programme that will help to deliver more energy efficient, better performing buildings.
The government-backed Technology Strategy Board is to fund the cost of seventeen intensive building performance evaluation studies covering a total of nine domestic developments and thirteen non-domestic buildings, following funding awards in the first phase of an £8 million open competition. Expert evaluators will help the successful applicants to determine how the buildings perform and why.
The in-depth study of the initial case study buildings – and many other buildings that will be evaluated over the next four years – will enable the construction industry as a whole to better understand the performance of different building types, design strategies, construction methods and occupancy patterns, and the relative contribution of various factors to the eventual performance of the buildings.
Richard Miller, the Technology Strategy Board’s Head of Sustainability, said:
“The government has set the challenging target of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the UK by 2050. With 45% of the UK’s CO2 emissions coming from buildings, we need to stimulate innovation towards achieving these goals. A key challenge is to ensure that building designs lead to physical buildings that perform as intended.”
There is typically a significant discrepancy between the predicted energy performance of a building, and hence its CO2 emissions, and actual performance. The energy requirement of a building can easily be twice that predicted, and often between four and seven times when taking into account the energy used as a result of the activities undertaken in the building. These discrepancies arise from a variety of sources, ranging from the initial design and modelling tools used, the build process and build quality, systems integration and commissioning, handover & operation through to the understanding, comfort and motivation of occupants. The studies to be carried out will look at these issues, highlighting areas for improvement and innovation, and increasing understanding.
Stephen Stone, Chief Executive of Crest Nicholson, said:
“It is becoming increasingly important to develop homes that are sustainable in use, as well as design, and a better understanding of actual energy performance against design intention will play a vital role in helping us to improve the design, construction and delivery across all of our future sites. The knowledge gained from this study will deliver vital learning and developmental improvements that will be of benefit to the entire industry.”
Judit Kimpian, Aedas Head of Sustainability and Advanced Modelling, said:
"We are delighted to be able to conduct this detailed building performance evaluation of five Aedas-designed buildings. Growing our understanding of the way in which occupants interact with our buildings is the very essence of our design approach."
Mr Peter Phelps, Energy and Environment Manager at the University of Bath’s Department of Estates, added:
"This evaluation will educate our current and future plans, as will provide vital research in a key area for achieving the UK's challenging carbon reduction targets.
Tim Cutting of ECOS Homes, said:
“ECOS homes are delighted to have been selected to take part in the Building Performance Evaluation project, which we feel is helping to overcome significant barriers that face developers who want to undertake performance monitoring of the buildings they construct.”
The Building Performance Evaluation competition for funding runs for two years with tranches of funding being made available at three-monthly intervals. The deadline for the next round of funding applications, for both domestic and non-domestic buildings, is 12 January 2011.
Ends
Notes to Editors
1. The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its role is to promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). For more information please visit http://www. innovateuk. org.
2. For background information about the Building Performance Evaluation competition for funding please visit: http://www. innovateuk. org/content/competition/building-performance-evaluation-.ashx
3. The first seventeen projects are led by the following organisations (location of projects in brackets):
(a) Domestic buildings: Crest Nicholson plc (South East); Homes and Communities Agency (South West); Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (Humber); Gentoo Homes (North East); ECOS Homes (South West); A2Dominion Group (London); BioRegional Quintain Ltd (South East); Buro Happold (East of England); Steel Construction Institute (London).
(b) Non-domestic buildings: Aedas Architects – 2 studies (East of England, London, North West & North East); Architype Ltd (London); The University of Bath (South West); Penoyre & Prasad LLP (South East); Bovis Lend Lease (North West); Huntingdonshire District Council (East of England); Richard Partington Architects (South East);
4. Examples of some of the projects to be funded:
(a) Domestic buildings
The Avante site, in Maidstone, has been developed by Crest Nicholson using the principles of high quality, energy efficient and design led construction. All 150 homes feature mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems, which provide a constant background flow of fresh air and extract condensation to result in lower humidity, a healthier environment and lower energy bills. However MVHR is still a relatively new technology and one of the many benefits of the study will lie in a better understanding of the relationship between design, installation and commissioning of these systems. Equally the results of the study will provide valuable insight into user understanding, response and well-being.
Contact: Kerri Vinall, Grayling; kerri(dot)vinall(at)grayling(dot)com’ 020 7932 1854
Ecos Homes builds award winning sustainable housing in the South West. Developments use an advanced approach to design, materials, systems and planning, which demonstrates that building sustainably is commercially viable. Evaluating the design and construction of these houses, which are essentially prototypes, provides vital information for the design and construction teams for future projects and for the occupants to help them fine tune their houses and get the best performance from them. Additionally the evaluation process itself, which is in an early stage of development, can be advanced and refined to enable it to become a useful and affordable tool for the house building industry as a whole.
Contact: Tim Cutting, ECOS Homes, tim(at)cutting-energy(dot)co(dot)uk
(b) Non-domestic buildings
The Bath Campus project (University of Bath) is a detailed post-occupancy investigation in to the environmental performance of two recent additions to the University of Bath campus. The buildings have a combined floor area of 16,000 square metres and cost £40 million to complete. Building 4-West provides mostly office and teaching accommodation across multiple floor levels. Construction of 4-West was complex as it involved the demolition of a 1960s CLASP building at the very heart of the campus. The second building being studied is Woodland Court, a 355-bed student residence located at the easternmost edge of the campus. The accommodation is arranged over four floors and, in common with building 4-West, achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
Contact: Dr Andy Shea, University of Bath; a(dot)shea(at)bath(dot)ac(dot)uk; 01225 386158
Aedas will be carrying out detailed building performance evaluation of five buildings - The Petchey Academy, Stockport Academy, Academy 360, Loxford School of Science and Technology and Brine Leas Sixth Form. Aedas R&D Group, who will be leading the research team, initiated Aedas’ drive for gathering evidence of the performance of their designs in practice and has been working with Aedas design teams to gather and analyse data in order to disseminate lessons learned across the practice. The detailed evaluation of the above five buildings will be developed hand in hand with other Aedas research projects such as CarbonBuzz, which helps the construction industry bridge the gaps between design vs actual operation, and Harris Academy – Purley, where they are looking into design and guidance for future climate adaptation solutions.
Contact: Anna Gagliano, Aedas, anna(dot)gagliano(at)aedas(dot)com; 020 7520 8871
Crawley Library (Penoyre & Prasad LLP) creates a major new civic building and destination for the community designed to be a landmark for Crawley town centre. It provides a range of county council services including a central library, register office and administrative & social services accommodation. Arranged around a bright and welcoming central atrium, the project successfully culminates the requirements and budgets of a variety of stakeholders to create a timeless, yet contemporary civic building. From the outset the design was developed ollowing best practice sustainability principles to achieve very low carbon emissions. The Building Performance Evaluation programme provides the opportunity to review the success of this environmental strategy in practice.
Contact: Noam Raz, Penoyre & Prasad LLP; n(dot)raz(at)penoyreprasad(dot)com; 020 7250 3477
5. Additional quotes:
Noam Riaz, Associate, Penoyre & Prasad LLP: “We are delighted to have been selected to carry out this evaluation for Crawley Library. Post occupancy building performance evaluation will inform not only our future designs but also our knowledge and understanding of buildings in use and user behaviour. Studies like these are also immensely valuable for our clients helping them manage the building more cost effectively.”
Allan Thompson, Deputy Director of Gentoo Homes: "There is a great deal of debate at the moment about the design theory versus what actually happens in reality, both on new build and retrofit works, and so not only is this a chance to review the accuracy of the rigorous German design standard within a UK environment but also to use the lessons learnt to further improve our approach to sustainable housing moving forward."
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