Major Renovation Research Articles

“A unifying force in the community”: Perceptions of a neighborhood park renovation

Although the benefits of community parks are well established, evidence supporting the impact of park capital renovations is valuable for organizations seeking funding for such projects. This study assessed stakeholders’ perceived impacts as a result of a major park renovation. Separate, semi-structured focus groups were conducted with three stakeholder groups (emerging adults, parents, and older adults). Transcripts were thematically coded using a constant comparison method by multiple team members. Respondents perceived the renovations created a more inclusive and diverse atmosphere, generated social capital, and transformed the park into a “unifying force in the community.” Perceived negative impacts included increased usage by certain groups, and crowding in specific locations. This study adds to the body of evidence supporting the impacts of changes to the physical park environment on user behaviors, perceptions, and the social environment within the park and the broader community. Implications for future renovations and interventions are discussed.

Improving asset utilization with an Asset Investment Planning and Management methodology

In a world of aging assets and limited financial and human resources, companies often struggle to decide which asset-related projects should get attention first. Managers are required to compare highly divergent project justifications, and must somehow decide which projects bring most value to the company. Even within one project, it might be difficult to select the right option: is it better to change an asset's maintenance regime, plan a major refurbishment, or replace it altogether? The PAS-55 specification and the new ISO 55000 standard clarify the principles, but do not help with selecting or applying a methodology. This paper explores how combining asset failure risk evaluations with a well-defined corporate value function can lead to optimal decision making, and how the resulting decisions should be tracked and adjusted over the lifetime of the underlying projects or programs to maximize the execution rate.

Pyrex

The global sourcing department at World Kitchen faces a make/buy decision that could result in closing a 90-year-old facility in Pennsylvania. Concerns about labor costs and capital investment both come to the fore owing to ongoing union negotiations and the upcoming need for a major refurbishment of the glass-making furnace. Although many potential suppliers offer lower labor costs, tariffs, transportation, and quality must be factored into the decision.

Towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings in Europe: A Focus on Retrofit in Non-Residential Buildings

Buildings are the focus of European (EU) policies aimed at a sustainable and competitive low-carbon economy by 2020. Reducing energy consumption of existing buildings and achieving nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) are the core of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the recast of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). To comply with these requirements, Member States have to adopt actions to exploit energy savings from the building sector. This paper describes the differences between deep, major and NZEB renovation and then it provides an overview of best practice policies and measures to target retrofit and investment related to non-residential buildings. Energy requirements defined by Member States for NZEB levels are reported comparing both new and existing residential and non-residential buildings. The paper shows how the attention given to refurbishment of NZEBs increased over the last decade, but the achievement of a comprehensive implementation of retrofit remains one of main challenges that Europe is facing.

Transformation of a University Lecture Hall in Valladolid (Spain) into a NZEB: LCA of a BIPV System Integrated in Its Façade

The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Directive 2010/31/EU) poses a major challenge, as it promotes the transformation of existing buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB). In this work, we present the case of study of a lecture hall building, owned by the University of Valladolid (Spain), that is currently being refurbished into a NZEB by integration of renewable energy sources (RES), also in line with the requirements from Directive 2009/28/EC. As part of its major renovation, not only Trombe walls and geothermal energy are to be incorporated but also a building-integrated solar photovoltaic (BIPV) system to address the electricity needs and reduce the building’s energy use and GHGs in a cost-effective manner. The environmental profile of this BIPV system has been investigated using life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), assessing the net emissions of CO2 and the damages caused in a comparative context with conventional electricity-generation pathways. In spite of the small power installed in this first stage (designed to cover only an annual energy consumption of about 13,000 kWh, around 6% of the total demand), it can be concluded that significant environmental benefits are gained using this system.

The ʿAbbāsids and the Architectural Development of the Prophet’s Mosque: The Consequences of a Political Disintegration

This article discusses the contributions of the Abbasid caliphs to the architectural development of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Those contributions began almost as early as the Abbasid caliphal government had officially emerged as the successor to the Umayyads, and ended with a major rebuilding and renovation work in 887 AH/1482 CE, about 35 years before the ultimate dissolution of the Abbasid regime. The last work was executed by the Mamluk rulers as the Abbasid proxies. That was so because following the fall of Baghdad in 656 AH/1258 CE, the Abbasids moved to Egypt where, under the patronage of the powerful Mamluk dynasty, they maintained only a feeble show of authority, confined to religious matters. Henceforth, their caliphate became but ceremonial and titular. Since the protracted Abbasid rule went through several precarious phases, it was frequently marred by acute religious and socio-political disorders and turbulences, so much so that its mere existence was occasionally threatened. The history and architectural development of the Prophet’s Mosque was not immune to such conditions. Its architectural integrity and predisposition, and overall functioning as a community development center, were now and then at risk. Thus, this article focuses on discussing the consequences and implications of a political disintegration during the Abbasid era for the architectural development and serviceability of the Mosque. The article concludes that the Abbasid contributions to the architectural development of the Mosque was rather inadequate. The blame is to be attributed partly to the Abbasids themselves and partly to the prevalent circumstances in the state that eventually incapacitated the Abbasid government from performing its entrusted duties and responsibilities. However, even for the creation and fostering of the latter, it was again the Abbasids who more than anybody else are to be held accountable.

Teaching Laboratory Renovation

The improvement of students’ awareness of concepts in science and its uses, practical scientific abilities and considerate of how science and scientists effort in laboratory experiences have been considered key aspects of education in science for over 100 years. Facility requirements for the necessary level of safety and security combined with specific requirements relevant to the course to be conducted dictate the fundamental strategy of a specific lab, and the strategy procedure need to address both. This manuscript is the second in a series of five case studies describing laboratory incidents, accidents, and laboratory improvements. We summarize the process used to guide a major renovation of the chemistry instructional laboratory services at Al-Nahrain University and discuss lessons learned from the project

Automated roof window control system to address overheating on renovated houses: Summertime assessment and intercomparison

Major and deep energy renovations on residential buildings are expected in Europe over the next several years. The current developments towards nearly-zero energy houses in building efficiency have increased the overheating occurrences indoors. For house users summer thermal discomfort is an unknown challenge that they have not faced in the past. The objectives of this study is to highlight the problem of overheating in energy renovated dwellings in temperate climates and to investigate the ability of automated roof window control systems to address the risk during the peak summer period. The assessment of the indoor environment was conducted in a typical two-storey house, close to Copenhagen. Both dynamic and static criteria were used to carry out risk evaluation.The assessment of the monitored data of the house verifies the fact that active and passive ventilation and shading systems, if manually controlled, cannot guarantee high quality indoor environment. The use of automated roof window control system may significantly decreases the overheating risk without any significant compromise of the indoor air quality. The developed system is analyzed in detail. Suggestions for future work are also proposed.

THE EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA ON YOUNG ADULTS: RESEARCH ON THE EDMONTON VALLEY ZOO DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY

The Valley Zoo Development Society (VZDS) is a non-profit organization currently working with the Edmonton Valley Zoo in hopes to re-build and develop the zoo, and ultimately gain awareness from the Edmonton public. VZDS fundraises through seasonal events, in particular, The Festival Of Light. This is a ten-day event, which occurs annually in mid December and offers a variety of entertainment such as ice-skating and fire dancers on the zoo grounds. The current market VZDS is targeting consists primarily of families with young children. Although, this is a large segment, it is not currently creating enough revenue to sustain the Valley Zoo and the Valley Zoo Development Society. Therefore, the VZDS has inquired about reaching a new target demographic, specifically young adults aged 19-25. This group is a large and diverse segment and could be a very beneficial market to promote to. The Valley Zoo Development Society has questioned how one might go about reaching this demographic with a relatively inexpensive marketing campaign. With this in mind, initial exploratory research was conducted with a set of in-depth interviews with individuals within the age category. With the information gained from these interviews, along with literature review on their decision-making processes, a primary marketing problem was identified. This problem is largely based on the lack of information and awareness of this group about the activities of the Edmonton Valley Zoo. With the lack of marketing strategies directed to young adults; they remain vastly unaware of the events hosted by the zoo, or that the zoo is currently involved in major renovations. Therefore, the research conducted analyzes six key research questions involved in how the VZDS can gain this awareness, and what channels of media would yield the best result of reaching this segment. A questionnaire was developed regarding these six research questions to gain insight into how MacEwan students feel about the zoo, and how well informed these students are about the Valley Zoo. On top of this, questions also involved what avenues of media are most used within this sample (print media, social media, radio, television, etc.). Through data analysis it can be concluded that this age group would give a worthy contribution to the Valley Zoo if they were able to incorporate a social experience, such as a romantic outing. As well, these individuals can be reached with many media alternatives, however, through statistical analysis, it has been evaluated that radio advertising will have the greatest potential in reaching individuals who would be willing to attend the Edmonton Valley Zoo again.

House, home and transforming energy in a cold climate

Warm homes are fundamental to a sense of personal security and citizenship, but many lowincome families and households struggle to pay their energy bills, and energy prices are caught up in the politics of welfare and climate change. Our research uses a sociological perspective to investigate the experiences of low-income households, on a Glasgow housing estate, living through a major renovation programme to insulate homes and install community heating. The Housing Association’s aim was to combine amelioration of fuel poverty with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. We examine the complex results from the renovation, which indicate that the UK economistic model of households as primarily consumers limited, rather than facilitated, the achievement of desired co-benefits for welfare and environment. We show the centrality of personal and domestic relationships to the future of affordable, secure and clean energy. We suggest that social scientists have an important contribution to public understanding of connections between families and relationships, localities and the politics of energy and environment.

Evaluation of a technical survey and the renovation needs of old rural wooden houses in Estonia

Wooden detached houses represent the majority of buildings in rural areas in Estonia. The design service life of these rural wooden building is nearing its end. Before starting major renovation of these houses, a comprehensive survey of the buildings is required in order to determine all the visible and hidden damage of constructions. A renovation plan may be composed after the houses’ technical condition has been examined completely. This paper provides a description of the issues that need to be reported in a technical survey of an old log house. The relevant survey method was tested on 50 houses in Estonia. Besides describing survey components and methods, detailed information is given about building envelope elements and possible variations. All detected damage is described and illustrated with drawings and photographs. Every envelope component of a house should be checked for possible damage during an inspection. There are hidden components, especially below the floor where opening the construction or using a flexible camera is needed for an inspection. Most often, rot damage was found in foundation wall and log wall joints, the main reasons for it being broken or missing rain protection or waterproofing for the edge of the foundation. Often damage was identified in crawl spaces (floor beams) and near water leaks in the roof.

Sustainability Assessment of Family House

Sustainable construction of buildings provides an ethical and practical response to issues of environmental impact and resource consumption. Sustainability assumptions include the entire life cycle of the building and its significant components, from resource extraction through disposal at the end of the materials’ useful life. Sustainable building design relies on renewable resources for energy systems, recycling and reuse of water and materials, minimal intervention for landscaping, passive heating, cooling, and ventilation; and other approaches that minimize environmental impact and resource consumption. At present, sustainable buildings are defined by the assessment systems, that rate and certify them. Building assessment systems simply score or rate the effects of a building's design, construction, and operation, among them environmental impacts, resource consumption, and occupant health. Health in building can be deduced by the presence or absence of chemical and biological substances within circulating air, as well as the relative health and wellbeing of the building occupants. Building assessment systems used in the world evaluates various types’ buildings (office, hotels, government buildings, educations, institutional, industrial facilities, facilities of health-care, residential buildings). Assessment systems evaluate new buildings, major renovations or existing buildings. The aim of this paper is to highlight the evaluation of the selected family houses in various categories aimed at location and site, building constructions, energy efficiency, water efficiency and waste.

Experimental verification of an energy consumption signal tool for operational decision support in an office building

Abstract This paper demonstrates an energy signal tool to assess the system-level and whole-building energy use of an office building in downtown Denver, Colorado. The energy signal tool uses a traffic light visualization to alert a building operator to energy use which is substantially different from expected. The tool selects which light to display for a given energy end-use by comparing measured energy use to expected energy use, accounting for uncertainty. A red light is only displayed when a fault is likely enough, and abnormal operation costly enough, that taking action will yield the lowest cost result. While the theoretical advances and tool development were reported previously, it has only been tested using a basic building model and has not, until now, been experimentally verified. Expected energy use for the field demonstration is provided by a compact reduced-order representation of the Alliance Center, generated from a detailed DOE-2.2 energy model. Actual building energy consumption data is taken from the summer of 2014 for the office building immediately after a significant renovation project. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a first look at the building following its major renovation compared to the design intent. The tool indicated strong under-consumption in lighting and plug loads and strong over-consumption in HVAC energy consumption, which prompted several focused actions for follow-up investigation. In addition, this paper illustrates the application of Bayesian inference to the estimation of posterior parameter probability distributions to measured data. Practical discussion of the application is provided, along with additional findings from further investigating the significant difference between expected and actual energy consumption.

Aalto University Undergraduate Centre. Protected Alvar Aalto Building Awarded for Accessibility After Renovation.

The main building of the former Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) designed by Alvar Aalto is part of the cultural heritage in Finland. The building underwent a major renovation in 2011-2015 and has now become an awarded Undergraduate Centre for the modern interdisciplinary education of Aalto University. This paper presents how the architectural masterpiece from the 1960's was renovated and updated into a modern and accessible university building. Particular attention was paid for entering the building by wheelchairs, prams and pushchairs. The successful renovation was awarded in 2015 by the 'Esteetön Suomi -palkinto' (Accessible Finland Award), given every two years as a mark of recognition to activities or locations implementing the principles of accessibility and Universal Design for all on a broad scale and in a nationally significant way.

Creating a culture of philanthropy

Purpose With the retirement of the External Relations Director in early 2014, the Marriott Library’s new Dean used this opportunity to move library fundraising in a new direction. This paper aims to examine one approach to institutionalizing philanthropy to increase its effectiveness and creates a plan for implementation. Design/methodology/approach Changing the position expectations and hiring a new Development Director to lead the change has proven beneficial to the library staff and donors. The new Development Director and Dean are changing the culture of development at the Marriott Library by not only working closely with library faculty and staff but also through making them partners in all aspects of development work. Findings Although the new program has only been in place for a little more than a year, positive outcomes are already emerging. These include a more engaged staff, better served donors and an increase in donations to the library including, a multi-million dollar gift for a major renovation as well as a US$3.5 m gift of rare materials. Originality/value While there has been a lot of research on development, little of it focuses specifically on the assets and challenges libraries face within the context of large universities. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of library fundraising and offers a model of how libraries can leverage their staff and central role within the university.

CASE-STUDY ANALYSIS OF CONCRETE LARGE-PANEL APARTMENT BUILDING AT PRE- AND POST LOW-BUDGET ENERGY-RENOVATION

The paper presents a case study analysis of low-budget renovation of a typical concrete large-panel apartment building. Focus is on the measurements and analyses of energy consumption, indoor climate, CO2 concentration, air leakage rate, thermal transmittance of thermal bridges, and thermal transmittance of the building envelope before and after the renovation. Results indicate that the renovation project was generally successful, with delivered energy need de­creasing by 40% and heating energy need decreasing by 50%. However, some key problems need to be solved to achieve full energy efficiency potential of the renovation works. Those critical problems are the performance (thermal comfort, heat recovery) of ventilation systems, thermal bridges of external wall/window jamb and economic viability. Currently, a major renovation is not economically viable, therefore financial assistance to the apartment owners’ associations is required to encourage them to undertake major renovations.

Options for Reducing Household Water Use in the UK: The Potential of Servicized Systems

Household water consumption in most high-income countries is well above that required to meet basic needs, but consumption levels vary significantly between these countries. In those where consumption levels are at the lower end of the spectrum as a result of improved efficiency of household appliances, scope for further significant reduction from improvements in efficiency alone is limited. Product-service systems are suggested as a means of significantly further lowering water consumption, there being a diverse range of such systems which could be developed in the water sector. In the theoretical analysis described here servicized greywater recycling systems are shown to have real potential in that they can help overcome maintenance and water quality issues associated with such systems. If servicized greywater recycling systems were introduced in all new-build dwellings in England and also when making major bathroom renovations, an absolute decoupling of population and economic growth, and household water consumption would be possible as a result of savings in mains water consumption.

Refurbishment trends of the residential building stock: Analysis of a regional pilot case in Italy

The article illustrates the Italian pilot action in the IEE-EPISCOPE project, focussing on the analysis of energy refurbishment trends of the Piedmont region residential building stock.The methodology follows three steps: (1) definition of a knowledge-base on the current state of the building stock, (2) investigation of refurbishment scenarios considering energy efficiency measures and retrofit rates, and (3) comparison of the achievable CO2 reductions with the climate protection targets in short and middle term. The results are addressed to local authorities to enable them to set up corrective actions to achieve the targets.Three realistic scenarios are investigated. The first one considers the annual current refurbishment trend and the most common energy efficiency measures. The second scenario applies the measures resulting from a cost-optimal analysis. The third scenario considers the mean annual refurbished floor area necessary to meet the climate protection targets. The results of the scenario analyses emphasise the need of implementing major refurbishments, rather than fixing stricter requirements.The building stock energy performance is assessed through the building typology approach defined in the IEE-TABULA project. It allows the models of building stock energy refurbishment to be presented in an effective way, easily understandable and manageable by non-energy experts.

WATER CONSERVATION: OBSERVATIONS FROM A HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITY MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Sustainable or green building practices have been adopted by most higher education institutions for their new campus buildings, major renovations and daily operations. This paper provides a synthesis of opinions and existing practices related to water conservation in institutional green buildings of member institutions of APPA (formerly the Association of Physical Plant Administrators). A specific focus regarding waterless urinals and their operation was attempted. A web-based survey and follow-up one-to-one interviews were utilized to extract information and data from these industry professionals. The survey evaluated the institution's use of policy related to sustainable building practices and focused on their approaches to water conservation. Regional preferences are provided and barriers to some water conservation practices and approaches have been identified. Operational challenges are evident, particularly as they relate to waterless urinals. It is clear that higher education institutions are engaging in water conservation practices across Canada and the United States. This work contributes to a foundation for future research and analysis related to best-management practices for water conservation in the higher education sector.

El último baluarte de la ciudadela de valencia. Un símbolo de la dinastía borbónica

<p>La Casa de Armas, que ocupaba el vértice nororiental del recinto amurallado de Valencia, ha constituido desde sus orígenes uno de los enclaves fortificados de mayor relevancia de la ciudad. En torno a la torre de L’ Esperó fueron edificándose los distintos elementos que han configurado desde el siglo xvi un espacio destinado en principio a la custodia de las armas de la Generalitat 1. En el siglo xviii, con el advenimiento de la dinastía borbónica, el edificio sufriría un trascendental proceso de reformas, de entre las cuales, la construcción de un nuevo baluarte en el vértice de la Plaza de Predicadores repercutiría en mayor medida en la imagen exterior del conjunto. El presente trabajo analiza algunos aspectos fundamentales para el conocimiento del edificio, especialmente aquellos relativos a su estructura, morfología, materiales y su relación con las construcciones preexistentes. El análisis de los datos recopilados nos ha permitido elaborar nuevas fuentes de estudio tales como el levantamiento planimétrico del conjunto, contemplando su evolución a través de sus diferentes etapas históricas.</p>