Comparison of conventional and passive public utility buildings in Poland

Abstract

Poland sees the increasing popularisation of sustainable housing and the growing awareness of the importance of sport development. A good physical condition of residents translates into effective work, whereas caring for the environment improves living standards. Introducing healthy lifestyle from an early age has the best results. Due to this fact in Poland every school has its own sports hall. The pilot programme to build swimming pools near every primary school was introduced in Lower-Silesian district and it is called ‘Dolnośląski Delfinek’ (Lower Silesian Little Dolphin). Swimming pool buildings are characterised by high demand for heat. Their operation burdens district budgets and indirectly every taxpayer. Those facilities are occasionally rented commercially to earn some money for maintenance expenses. The costs usually exceed the income of those buildings. The article discusses results of thermo-vision (infrared) tests and presents the analysis of the technical documentation of twenty eight public utility buildings located in Poland. The investigations encompass conventional, energy-saving and passive buildings. The conventional buildings described in the work are school swimming pools from the programme ‘Dolnośląski Delfinek’ (Lower-Silesian Little Dolphin), whereas energy-saving and passive buildings include office, industrial, hotel, educational and sports buildings (including an indoor swimming pool). This article aims to find the most effective design manner and energy-saving sports buildings construction such as swimming pools. The results obtained in the tests indicate the necessity of compliance with the energy-saving technology in the design and construction of public utility buildings. A conclusion arises that swimming pool buildings are the most suitable candidates for passive buildings.