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Sunday 10 November 2004
| Coming up next time (10 December): | |
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News and case studies |
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Pick of the papers - recent research reports |
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Regulars - books reviews, jobs and competitions |
Thanks to:
Architectural Press, for books and journal articles to review
A double celebration
Get Sust! is one year old this month. And what better way to celebrate than to beat the BBC’s flagship news programme to a good story?
In Get Sust! no. 6 we reported the latest data on atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, as announced at the CIBSE Conference by Sir David King, the government’s Chief Scientific Advisor. One day after our report, Sir David was quizzed on the data by none other than Jeremy Paxman...
So don’t forget - you heard it here first.
We don’t have any great “scoops” for you this month, but there is still plenty to report - not least, the construction industry’s response to government plans for the Environmental Performance of Buildings Directive.
Since its launch in November 2003, Get Sust! has grown at a sustainable pace. The website, which was introduced in June, has helped to increase the circulation. We now have readers in around 50 UK universities, plus some in institutions overseas, and a growing number of architects, building services engineers and designers. You are all most welcome.
Look out for Get Sust! no. 8 on 10 December, when we will be running our end of term “feedback” competition. In the meantime, keep the news and comments flowing in. Send items and requests for information to editor@get-sust.com.
Learn more:
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• | See Get Sust! no. 6 at http://www.get-sust.com. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 |  |
Energy labelling won’t be plain sailing
Last month (October) ministers, civil servants and representatives from the main construction professions met at the Building Research Establishment to discuss the government’s plans for implementing a European Directive which should have a significant impact on the sustainability of all the UK’s buildings. This article summarises the main changes, but hold on tight - you’re about to set sail in a sea of abbreviations.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) aims to save 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas) by 2010, with savings rising from then on. It is due to come into effect in the UK in January 2006.
The EPBD is part stick, part carrot: the construction industry, building owners and building managers will have to take serious steps to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings; in return they will be able to use the building’s “energy label” as a marketing tool to boost sales, or to enhance their environmental credentials.
Although the intentions behind this plan are noble, some key players doubt whether the changes will have the impact intended. Roger Watts is immediate past Chairman of the Building Surveying Faculty of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). He told last month’s meeting that, as a practising buildings surveyor for over 25 years, he has never been asked about energy efficiency by his clients, and his colleagues report a similar level of disinterest. For the architects, Bill Gething of Feilden Clegg Bradley voiced concerns that the EPBD heralds fundamental changes to Part L of the Building Regulations, which the industry isn’t yet in a position to adopt. On top of that, at a time when the industry is facing significant skills shortages, an army of inspectors must be recruited and trained to issue the relevant certificates.
Clearly, there is a long way to go in the next 14 months. But with the consultation period now completed, details of the practicalities are emerging.
By January 2006 there will need to be systems in place to provide an energy certificate and a “label” (if appropriate) for:
| • | all new buildings |
| • | existing buildings, when they are sold or rented out |
| • | existing buildings, when they undergo substantial refurbishment. |
All major public buildings (over 1,000 square metres) will need to display an energy label that the public can see. The EPBD also calls for regular inspection of boilers and air-conditioning systems. The frequency of these inspections depends on the capacity of the system.
But the EPBD does not simply inspect the status quo. There will also be significant changes to the energy performance requirements, with implications for other legislation.
The main way the EPBD takes effect in the UK will be through the Building Regulations Part L, backed up by the force of the “Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004” (also known as the “Stunell Act”). The Housing Bill, which is scheduled to become law this month, will also have a role.
Last time Part L was substantially changed it was split into two - Part L1 for domestic, and Part L2 for non-domestic buildings. The various changes that are now in the pipeline confirm the need for that division.
On the domestic side, the Housing Bill will introduce the Home Information Pack (HIP) that sellers must create when they put their property on the market. The HIP will contain the Home Condition Report (HCR), part of which will be an energy certificate...
This certificate is “in development” and will probably include:
| • | the current SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) rating of the property |
| • | the “energy label” |
| • | the benchmark |
| • | recommendations for measures that will improve the building’s energy performance |
| • | the potential SAP, should these recommendations be adopted. |
On the non-domestic side, energy performance needs to be assessed for two separate purposes:
| • | the “asset
rating”, which is the information
that needs to be provided when
the building is sold or let |
| • | the “operational
rating”, which is the information
that will go on public display
(when required). |
By now, you won’t be surprised to hear that the SAP is getting a face-lift too (see below). It will include new ways to compensate for weather, orientation, passive or active solar protection, natural lighting, indoor climate and other factors such as the positive influences of renewable energy and combined heat and power. Tools to calculate the non-domestic ratings, along similar principles to the SAP, are yet to emerge.
The latest version of Part L must be published by the summer of 2005. The problem for everyone involved in designing buildings is that it will not give details of how to comply. On the other hand, this could be a chance for architects to have a strong impact on building performance by getting involved in this issue right from the start.
Although it’s not long before these changes hit the streets, it will be some time before the real impact is felt. The final implementation of the HIP, for example, is not expected until January 2007, and the EPBD must be fully implemented by December 2008.
But don’t think that will be an end to it... the next amendment of Part L is scheduled for 2010. Perhaps by then we will be able to steer a clear course through the system... but don’t count on it.
Learn more:
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• | The original consultation
document “Proposals for amending
Part L and implementing the Energy
Performance of Buildings Directive” can
be viewed at the Building Regulations
section of the ODPM website at http://www.odpm.gov.uk. (choose “consultation papers”. The consultation period ended on 22 October) |
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• | Details of the forthcoming SAP 2005 are at http://projects.bre.co.uk/sap2005/. |
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• | Delegates’ comments from the industry seminar at BRE on 14 October, together with speakers’ presentations are on the Directive Implementation Advisory Group (DIAG) website at http://www.diag.org.uk. |
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• | The forthcoming
Housing Bill is discussed at http://www.housing.odpm.gov.uk/hbs. See also http://www.thehicb.org.uk and http://www.assetskills.org. |
| • | See “Refurbishment seminars” below. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
RIBA for free
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has decided to offer students of architecture free membership.
Basic student membership includes various discounts, use of the RIBA Information Centre, and savings on key publications. Advanced student membership (£30 per year) will add to this list reduced competition registration fees, and use of the RIBA library.
This will take effect from January 2005, and around 10,500 students of RIBA validated and candidate courses in the UK are expected to benefit.
Learn more:
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• | View http://members.riba.org/student. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
Small power; big problem
Designers planning air-conditioning systems for offices have to estimate the amount of heat that electrical equipment will generate. Traditionally, this is done by standard calculations, but this tends to overestimate the energy needed - by at least 24% or as much as 650% - resulting in over-sized and therefore inefficient air-conditioning systems. Now researchers from the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University say they have found a more accurate way to assess small power equipment loads.
Current guidance for designers assumes a “worst case” power demand from small office equipment. On top of that, designers tend to allow a safety margin in case the intended use of the building changes. In a recent issue of Energy and Buildings journal, Gavin Dunn and Ian Knight report that it is better to estimate the likely load based on the intended density of people in the building.
They visited 30 air-conditioned offices and walked through a representative office space within each building, recording details of the type and quantity of office equipment, plus the number of people in each space. Next they calculated the loads using the CIBSE nameplate-ratio method, and compared their results with other rules-of-thumb.
They then used their data to study the relationship between small power equipment loads and occupant density, and derived indicative maximum and minimum values for a given occupant density. Dunn and Knight say that using this relationship when planning air-conditioning systems would reduce the average small power load from around 40 W/m2 at present to 25 W/m2 or less.
Learn more:
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• | See Dunn G and Knight I: “Small power equipment loads in UK office environments”, Energy and Buildings, 37 (2005) 87-91 available on-line at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03787788. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
Spotlight on a Finnish ecohouse
Carey Simonson of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, has been studying the performance of an ecological house in Helsinki, Finland. His latest results show that energy consumption is low and the natural ventilation system is adequate in winter and summer.
The interesting things about this property is that it does not have a moisture and air barrier in the envelope. The building has thick insulation to keep energy consumption low, but a porous envelope and natural ventilation systems that helps to control indoor air quality. Space heating requirement is supplied from a district heating system (with a wood-burning stove to top-up), and the natural ventilation system does mean that demand is higher than normal. But on the plus side, there are no ventilation fans, which would have used electricity.
Simonson concludes that the house uses significantly less energy than typical Finnish homes.
Simonson’s paper in the journal Energy and Buildings is one of several he has published on this property.
Learn more:
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• | See Simonson C: “Energy consumption and ventilation performance of a naturally ventilated ecological house in cold climate”, Energy and Buildings, 37 (2005) 23-25 at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03787788. This paper includes several photographs of the building. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
Recycled tyres reinforce mortars
Scientists in France have been testing mortars that use worn tyres as aggregate, and the results show promise for the material, and its green credentials.
Cement-based materials are brittle and highly sensitive to cracking, particularly shrinkage cracking. Adding fibre reinforcement prevents this, and so improves durability and serviceability of structures. The team led by A Turatsinzea at the Laboratoire Materiaux et Durabilite des Construction in Toulouse compared the performance of conventional mortar with those where particles of rubber tyres partly replace sand as an aggregate.
But the second aim of the study was to establish whether worn tyres could be safely used as an aggregate. A French law which came into force in late December 2002 prohibits the dumping of scrap tyres. This technique could provide a way of recycling rubber tyres.
The researchers found that, although the resultant mortar had lower strength, the rubber particles acted as “crack arresters” so that the mortars had high strain capacity, and are therefore suitable for applications where strength is not a priority.
Learn more:
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• | See Turatsinzea A et al: “Mechanical characterisation of cement-based mortar incorporating rubber aggregates from recycled worn tyres”, Building and Environment, 40 (Feb 2005) 221-226 available on-line at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03601323. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
Making the most of materials
Smart materials and technologies for the architect and design professions,
by Michelle Addington and David Schodek
The authors of this book, both professors in the Department of Architecture at Harvard University’s School of Design, present designers with a challenge: to edge forward step by step, or to make a giant leap in a new direction.
For hundreds of years architects have chosen tried and tested materials based on either the performance required (strength, for example) or aesthetic qualities such as colour or finish. Gradually new materials with enhanced qualities have moved onto the scene. But the design process has remained the same. With the advent of smart materials, however, there is a chance to do things differently - to focus on what the building should “do” as well as how it should look.
Smart materials - materials that respond to their environment - have been with us since the early 1990s. So far, products have reached the marketplace but haven’t been widely adopted. This is not just a question of cost - it’s more that these are technologies “looking for a problem to solve”. Occasionally they have been used to replace an existing material; but they will only reach their full potential when architects and designers begin to think differently about the design process.
For example, if the building is meant to serve its occupants, why do we need “building services”? They should be “occupant services”, working directly on the immediate environment of the occupants. Smart materials can achieve this because they work at the individual’s level. They could help to create an ideal environment and reduce the building’s energy use at the same time.
Acknowledging that this is an industry in its infancy, the authors do not set out to list all the currently available smart materials and their properties. Instead, by presenting a whistle-stop tour of A-level physics, they give readers sufficient grounding in the principles to be able to ask the right questions. (A nodding acquaintance with nanotechnology is bound to impress your friends!)
They list two main types of smart materials:
| • | the property change materials, such as magnetorheological materials where a magnetic field changes the material’s viscosity |
| • | the energy exchange materials, such as electrostrictive materials where an applied current alters the distance between atoms by polarisation and thus changes the material’s shape. |
And they give a tantalising glimpse of the types of applications that might be possible - if only designers could think laterally. For example, there is no need to specify a set level of lighting across a space; organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), particularly polymerOLEDs (or PLODs), can be manufactured in a flexible, mouldable thin-film for delivering light where it is needed across a surface.
Despite the academic tone of this book, it is not a heavy read. In fact, it is inspirational. The only downside is that it is US-specific, and the examples of applications are from US buildings or products. So jump to it - get out the Play-Doh and let’s get some home-grown smart projects on the drawing board.
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• | “Smart materials and technologies for the architecture and design professions”, by Michelle Addington and David Schodek is published in paperback, priced £39.99 by the Architectural Press. ISBN 0-7506-6225-5. Order copies from http://www.architecturalpress.com. |
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Environmental performance toolkit for glazed facades
published by CIBSE
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has launched a “toolkit” that will help building designers who are working on glazed façades.
The toolkit is a guidance document and a software selection tool that can be used to identify suitable façade systems from a library of 37 different glazing systems. The guide discusses the various issues - solar gain, heat losses, daylighting and acoustics - that need to be addressed by designers.
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• | Order your copy of “TM35 Environmental performance toolkit for glazed façades” from http://www.cibse.org. |
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Grow It
A new publication from CIRIA explains how that construction industry can make good use of agricultural crops. Crop-based materials bring real environmental benefits because they are renewable, have low embodied energy, and are easy to dispose of at the end of their life.
The guide “Crops in construction” (C614) looks at the performance and limitations of a range of crops, from hemp, flax and sheep’s wool as insulation, to bio-polymers for composite materials, and starches used as protective packaging for other construction materials.
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• | “Crops in construction” (C614), ISBN 0-86017-614-2 is available from the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) priced £80 (non-members) via http://www.ciria.org. |
| • | CIRIA
is running a seminar to support this
publication. “From cork boards
to hemp homes: the growing use of
crops in construction” will
be held in London on 14 December
from 3.30-6.30pm. Cost of attending
is £70 plus VAT,
but it is free for members of the
Construction Industry Environmental
Forum (CIEF). E-mail: enquiries@ciria.org. |
| © Melanie Thompson 2004 | |
Refurbishment seminars
BRE is running a series of FREE seminars about energy-efficient refurbishment. The events will use 10 case studies to explain the new requirements of Building Regulations Approved Document Part L1 (conservation of fuel and power). There are four seminars at venues around the country; the first is on 15 November in London.
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• | Contact Chris Beeron for more details. E-mail: beerc@bre.co.uk. Tel: 01923 664745. |
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Explore the jobs market
The National Engineering and Construction recruitment exhibitions (NER and NCR) will be held on 26-27 November 2004, in Hall 11 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham.
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• | For more details visit http://www.engineerjobs.co.uk and http://www.construction-job.co.uk. |
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Getting to grips with a sustainable brief
Sustainability is on the agenda at Britain’s key development and regeneration schemes, but how can you tell if a proposal meets expectations? Find out, at one of two half-day CPD seminars organised by BRE early next year.
These events will include demonstrations of the BREEAM and Ecohomes environmental assessment schemes.
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• | Contact Rose Lesteron of BRE for more details. E-mail: breeam@bre.co.uk. |
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Research posts in Northern Ireland
The University of Ulster is seeking experienced researchers for reader/lecturer posts and professorships in its Built Environment Research Institute.
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• | Further details and application packs are available at http://www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs/institutes. |
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