National Swedish Institute Research Articles

The abolition of the national Swedish institute for building research: Social change & political compromise

The closure of the National Swedish Institute for Building Research at the end of 1993 and its replacement by two new university departments was the culmination of a longer process of social change during which the old Institute gradually lost its role as a source of public planning for the by then completed post‐war urbanisation of Sweden. The Institute had been undergoing a process of academisation since the late 1970s to adapt to these changing circumstances, but the process was interrupted by the decision of the newly‐elected bourgeois government in 1991 to abolish the Institute. This decision took place under the unique circumstances of a commitment to dramatically increase research funding in general by using some of the capital in the Wage Earners Funds that were being abolished at that time. However, the decision became politically controversial and, after two acts of parliament, led to the compromise that replaced the Institute with two university departments. This resulted in only a modest reduction of funding for building research but it completed the process of academisation of building research in what ultimately became a complicated downsizing solution. This article traces these processes and the various interests that were involved in it.

Households in action—On access to housing in a regulated private rental market

This article evaluates the relative contribution of material and social variables for determining different ways of getting access to dwellings in a regulated private rental housing market with excess housing demand—the inner‐city of Stockholm. Data from a survey conducted by the National Swedish Institute for Building Research in 1988 containing' a sample of 455 households in inner‐city rental housing is examined with the help of ANOTA (analysis of tables) technique of statistical analysis. Obtaining a flat in the privately owned inner‐city rental stock in Stockholm is greatly facilitated by having resided a long time in the market‐area, by having previous possession of a contract and by the existence of a social network that affords access to the local housing market.

Book Reviews : Ann Schlyter: Women Householders and Housing Strategies. The Case of George- Lusaka. The National Swedish Institute for Building Research. SB: 14. Gavle 1988

Book Reviews : Ann Schlyter: Women Householders and Housing Strategies. The Case of George- Lusaka. The National Swedish Institute for Building Research. SB: 14. Gavle 1988

Design criteria for solar access and wind shelter in the outdoor environment

Sweden has a cold climate. Designing with climate means providing as much sunshine and wind shelter in the outdoor environment as possible. This paper deals with the efforts to verify suggested design criteria with regard to subjective experience of sunshine and windiness. Like design criteria in general they are based on simplifications. The experience of climate is very complex — can it all be correlated to a calculated amount of sunshine or an average wind speed the way we have proposed? A total of 350 residents on five housing estates in different parts of Sweden have been asked about their experience of the climate in the outdoor environment. The methods used are interviews and questionnaire surveys. Residents' assessments of sunshine have been compared with calculated possible hours of sunshine at equinox. A strong correlation was found. Residents' assessments of windiness have been compared with windiness estimated by a method developed at The National Swedish Institute for Building Research. The comparison gives adequate support for the assumptions, namely, that the wind conditions in a build-up environment in Sweden can be characterized by this method. The suggested wind-speed limits for acceptable conditions appear reasonable in the light of previous research findings and our own plausibility assessments.

The National Swedish Institute for Building Research Box785, S-80129, Gävle, Sweden

The National Swedish Institute for Building Research Box785, S-80129, Gävle, Sweden

Richard Harris and Geraldine Pratt, Housing Tenure and Social Class, Research Report SB10, The National Swedish Institute for Building Research, Stockholm, 1987. 237 pp. paper, SEK.182.00.

Richard Harris and Geraldine Pratt, Housing Tenure and Social Class, Research Report SB10, The National Swedish Institute for Building Research, Stockholm, 1987. 237 pp. paper, SEK.182.00.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:RICHARD HARRIS & GERALDINE PRATT, eds., Housing Tenure and Social Class. Gavle 1987: National Swedish Institute for Building ResearchMICHAEL PACIONE, ed., Historical Geography: Progress and Prospect. Croom Helm Progress in Geography Series.REGINALD G. GOLLEDGE, HELEN COUCLELIS & PETER GOULD, eds., A Ground for Common Search. Goleta, Cal. 1988: The Santa Barbara Geographical Press.

Abuse of the Elderly in Denmark and Sweden:

During October 1987, the National Swedish Institute of Statistics conducted a telephone interview of 943 men and women between the ages of 18 and 74 years about elder abuse. In Denmark, the Danish National Institute of Statistics carried out a similar survey of 1,535 men and women, 16 years and over. The representative samples of individuals were asked whether they knew about specific cases of older persons in their community or among their acquaintances who had been battered, threatened, economically exploited, robbed, or severely neglected. In both Sweden and Denmark, 8 percent of the respondents reported knowled e of a case of mistreatment that had taken place within the prece 8 mg 12 months. The perpetrators were unknown persons, family members, and various types of care providers (e.g., home helpers, etc.). In Sweden, perpetrators Din e2n0m parekrc ietn wt oafs 6th ep ecracseenst .w Tehreis i nd itfhfeer ensctea fmfig chatt ebgeo 7 u,e wtoh etrheea fsa icnt that a larger proportion of the home help...

Book note

Kemeny, Jim (1987) Immigrant Housing Conditions in Sweden. An analysis of 1980 census data. Gavle: The National Swedish Institute for Building Research, Research Report SB:5.

Trough‐body trucks for ready‐mixed

In Sweden, the conventional revolving‐drum type of truck mixer is something of a rarity for transporting ready‐mixed concrete to the building site. Instead, about 80 percent of ready‐mix is carried from the production factories in trucks with trough‐shaped containers. The system is cheaper, more versatile and, with the use of factory‐added admixtures, separation of the concrete is no longer a problem; transport distances of 120 km are not unknown. These developments are reviewed in this report from the National Swedish Institute for Building Research.

Field investigations of moisture problems

To help achieve a consistent and objective approach to field studies of moisture problems in buildings, a Nordic project has produced a Nordtest Technical Report. It sets out systematic procedures for examining moisture problems in roofs, external walls and floors laid on ground slabs, and for mould attack. The procedures are described here by a research officer in the Materials and Structures Division of the National Swedish Institute for Building Research: the system is illustrated by a case study of moisture penetration through the roof of a swimming pool.

Research perspective: Sweden

The director of the National Swedish Institute of 1 Building Research gives a perspective view with a ‘difference, namely on why the results of building research seem to provoke little direct interest from practising architects in that country. He suggests that it has much to do with the way architects do their job but, more importantly, probably originates in the way architects and researchers are trained, and he makes comparisons with the situation in farming and medicine. His views may strike echoes in other lands. The article is based on a paper given by Professor Antoni to the Swedish Architects’ Assembly. The cartoons are by Leif Ronn.

The first long time comparison of techniques for passive integrated measurement of radon and radon daughter concentration performed in an occupied dwelling

The accuracy and variance of passive integrating detectors for radon and radon daughters presently in use in Sweden have been studied. Sets of 10 of each participating detector were exposed in an occupied dwelling. The results were compared with accurate measurements made with instruments from the National Swedish Institute of Radiation Protection. The results from the first test, in the summer of 1983, became an incitement to improved calibration procedures for some of the participating detectors. The test was repeated in February – April 1984. The results showed that all detectors participating in the test and presently in general use in Sweden are reasonably accurate.

A quantitative estimate of the accuracy of tracer gas methods for the determination of the ventilation flow rate in buildings

The paper presents a quantitative estimate of the error of the decay and constant concentration method. A number of tests were carried out in an indoor test house located in the laboratory hall at the National Swedish Institute for Building Research. At the beginning of the paper the relevant meaning of the concept ‘air-exchange rate’ is discussed and an appropriate terminology is suggested. Then follows a presentation of the theoretical background, based on a multi-cell model, of the two tracer gas methods studied experimentally. Finally, the results obtained are given. Apart from the accuracy of the tracer gas methods, some results of studies of the effect on the infiltration rate due to different operation modes of mechanical ventilation systems are also presented.

Lessons from Linköping

The University of Linkoping in Sweden was an example of phased construction. In this approach building work proceeds on the basis of the general requirements embodied in the first phase, while design work continues on the specific requirements of the second phase. A report from the National Swedish Institute for Building Research considers the implications.

Removing waste from building sites

The mounting volume of wrappings and waste materials from different types of site has been studied by the National Swedish Institute for Building Research. Methods of removal must be improved, it is suggested, and the relative costs involved accounted for in design and in estimating.