UK Building Research Articles

UK policies and industrial stakeholder perspectives on building thermal performance

Improving building thermal performance is important if the UK is to meet the 80% emission reduction target by 2050. Aiming to provide insights into UK building thermal performances, relevant national policies were highlighted and a one-day workshop was run. Real-time responses of industrial stakeholders were collected using Poll Everywhere. The stakeholder perspectives on challenges, barriers, thermal performances and other concerns were reported. It showed that (i) a whole-house retrofit plan was necessary; (ii) improving thermal performances would be challenging but achievable; and (iii) industrial stakeholders were concerned about building performance, legislation, drivers, cost, professional development, technology alternatives and future vision. It was concluded that industrial consultation should be continued to assist thermal performances of buildings in the UK.

UK building thermal performance from industrial and governmental perspectives

Current policies have implied that improving thermal performance of the built environment would be included in a strategy to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and meet the national targets of the Climate Change Act by 2050. However, the perceptions of the industrial stakeholders in this matter have not, to date, been clear. This study aimed to uncover stakeholder perspectives on thermal performance of the built environment and investigate whether their perspectives aligned well with the national policies. Focusing on attributes of the built environment, technology and innovation, barriers and reflections on reality, technical feedback was gathered from experienced industrial stakeholders via a one-day workshop and emails. The analysis showed that despite being familiar with the national policies, the perspectives of the industrial stakeholders did not fully align with the national policies in most aspects. However, the industry had no objection to employing low carbon technology alternatives in the future. The study concluded that consultation with industry should be carried out continuously to assist in the formation of future national policies to significantly improve the thermal performance of the built environment. Future research should be extended to comparing the stakeholder viewpoints and national policies from environmental and economic perspectives on a European/global scale.

Residential relations of Condominium Buildings in UK

영국은 역사적 특수성으로 독창적인 집합건물의 주거제도가 형성되어 왔다. 영국의 집합건물 거주관계는 Leasehold와 Commonhold라는 2가지 유형의 법제도가 존재한다. Leasehold는 ‘봉건제’에 근거한 것으로 여러 가지 문제를 발생하였고 flat 입주자는 Leasehold flat에 만족하지 못하였다. 따라서 Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002에서 Commonhold라는 새로운 권리를 도입하였다. Commonhold는 미국과 대륙국가의 Condominium과 계층적 소유권에 기초한 새로운 형태의 권리이다. Commonhold Act는 2002년에 입법되었으나 2004년부터 시행되었으며, flat 입주자에게 장기 임대가 아닌 부동산소유권을 실질적으로 부여하는 것을 목표로 하였다. Commonhold은 Leasehold에 비하여 장점이 많이 있다. Leasehold는 기간만료로 소멸되거나 기간 연장을 위하여 비용이 소요됨에 반하여 Commonhold는 소멸되지 않는다. Commonhold는 표준규칙 및 규정이 적용되므로 운영이 투명하고 관리비용이 저렴하다. Commonhold는 Landlord에 의하여 관리되는 대신에 flat 소유자들이 공동으로 관리한다. Commonhold가 성립되면 입주자들은 자신의 전유부분을 소유하게 되며, 모든 입주자들은 자동으로 Commonhold Association에 대하여 의무를 부담한다. Commonhold는 많은 장점에도 불구하고 거의 이용되지 않고 있다. 분양된 Commonhold는 약 20건에 불과하다.

An assessment of the effectiveness of UK building regulations for new homes in Radon Affected Areas

Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas generated underground by radioactive decay of nuclides contained in certain types of rocks, can concentrate inside buildings, where it poses the second-largest risk factor for lung cancer, after smoking. The highest concentrations of domestic radon in the UK occur in the south-western counties of Devon and Cornwall, but certain areas in Northamptonshire and surrounding counties in the English Midlands also have high levels. It has been shown that it is possible both to reduce the radon concentrations in existing houses and to build new homes with appropriate protection. Since 1999, the UK's Building Regulations have specified that all new homes should be built with a combined radon-proof/damp-proof membrane plus, in Radon Affected Areas, a sump under the building. However, the building regulations do not require that the radon level is measured once the house is built and so there is little information on the effectiveness of these measures. Builders generally do not mention radon, and when asked, just confirm that their houses are built to current standards.To better understand the efficacy or otherwise of the currently mandated radon-protection measures, a cross-sectional investigation was carried out in 26 new housing developments in high-radon areas in Northamptonshire. In a targeted mail-shot, 1056 householders were invited to apply for a free radon test; 124 replied (11.7%). In total, 94 pairs of detectors were returned (70.1% of responders), of which two were spoiled, giving a total of 92 results.Following processing and seasonal correction, the arithmetic mean radon concentration in the target houses was 45% of the arithmetic mean radon concentration in existing houses in the postcode sectors where the houses were built and were approximately log-normally distributed. No results exceeded the UK Action Level of 200 Bq. m−3 but three were above the Target Level of 100 Bq. m−3.The results suggest that the radon-proof membranes in general ensure that radon concentrations in new homes constructed in accordance with the Building Regulations in Radon Affected Areas (RAAs) are satisfactorily low. However, there is a very small statistical probability that levels in a small number of homes will be close to or above the Action Level, particularly in areas of high radon potential. As a result, the Public Health England (PHE) recommendation for testing in the first year of occupation should be adopted as a legal requirement.

A Study of 3rd Party Fraud on UK Retail Banking Customers and Anti-fraud Strategy for UK Banks and Building Societies

This dissertation was designed to investigate third-party frauds on UK retail banking customers, including card fraud, cheque fraud, online banking fraud, telephone banking fraud and banking phishing fraud and the fraud risk management frameworks for UK banks and building societies. The most common and prevalent bank fraud is card fraud which is perpetrated in many ways; counterfeit card fraud, card-not-present fraud, lost and stolen card fraud, card ID theft and card non-receipt fraud. The UK bank and building societies are required to have an effective fraud detection and prevention system in place to protect their customers from third-party retail banking frauds. The researcher employed positivism as a research philosophy for this study and used deductive approach to achieve research objectives. The quantitative research method was adopted for this research. However, this research showed some characteristics of a qualitative research method to study the fraud risk management frameworks for UK banks and building societies. Moreover, this research was carried out with the use of secondary data on third-party fraud on UK retail banking customers and UK card payments obtained from the Financial Fraud Action UK and the UK Cards Association from 2004 to 2016. The secondary data were analysed by using the SPSS software and Microsoft Excel. Findings were revealed for third-party retail banking fraud losses from 2004 to 2016. This research was conducted in line the Framework for Research Ethics (FRE) to make sure integrity, transparency and quality of this study. Therefore, findings can be reliable and valid. Irrespective of research limitations, the researcher managed to provide answer for all research questions and made suggestion for future research.

Towards a framework to evaluate the ‘total’ performance of buildings

Internationally, buildings are a major contributor to carbon emissions. Despite significant advances in the technology and construction of energy-efficient buildings, in many cases a performance gap between designed and actual performance exists. While much research has investigated the drivers of the building energy performance gap – both static and transient– there has been considerably less research into the total performance gap, defined here as performance gaps in building energy use, occupant satisfaction and Indoor Environmental Quality parameters such as thermal comfort and air quality which may impact on occupant health and wellbeing. This paper presents a meta-analysis of building performance data from buildings in the UK and China – selected due to their contrasting development environments – which illustrate the presence of and complexities of evaluating total performance gaps in both countries. The data demonstrate the need for (1) high end-use, spatial granularity and temporal resolution data for both energy and Indoor Environmental Quality, and (2) developing methodologies that allow meaningful comparisons between buildings internationally to facilitate learning from successful building design, construction methodologies and policy environments internationally. Using performance data from a UK building, a potential forward path is illustrated with the objective of developing a framework to evaluate total building performance. Practical application: While much research has examined building energy performance gaps, Indoor Environmental Quality and occupant satisfaction gaps are rarely included despite their relationship to energy. We use a meta-analysis of energy, indoor environmental quality, and occupant satisfaction data from buildings in the UK and China to illustrating the presence of and complexities of evaluating total performance gaps for buildings in the two countries, and the need for high resolution dynamic buildings data and novel methodologies for comparison between buildings across different contexts. Illustrative case studies are used to demonstrate potential future directions for evaluating ‘total’ building performance.

Carbon and cost critical elements: a comparative analysis of two office buildings

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and compare cost and carbon critical elements of two office buildings, and to help achieve an optimum balance between the capital cost (CC) and embodied carbon (EC) of buildings.Design/methodology/approachCase study approach was employed to study cost and carbon critical elements of two office buildings as it allows an in-depth and holistic investigation. Elemental estimates of CC and EC were prepared from BoQs of the two buildings by obtaining rates from the UK Building Blackbook. Pareto principle (80:20 rule) was used to identify carbon and cost critical elements of the two buildings, and the significance hierarchies of building elements were compared.FindingsSubstructure, frame and services were identified as both carbon and cost critical elements responsible for more than 70 per cent of the total CC and EC of both buildings. Stairs and ramps, internal doors and fittings, furnishings and equipment were identified to be the least carbon- and cost-significant elements contributing less than 2 per cent of total CC and EC in both buildings. The hierarchy of cost and carbon significance varies between buildings due to the difference in the specification and design.Originality/valueThe increasing significance of dual currency (cost and carbon) demands cost and carbon management during the early stages of projects. Hence, this paper suggests that focusing on carbon and cost-intensive building elements is a way forward to keep both cost and carbon under control during the early stages of projects.

A New Methodology for the Selective Measurement of building Performance and Safety

Abstract This paper evaluates the present evidence of smoke spread due to problems in compartmentation and also reviews different test methods which can be employed to identify these problems during construction stages. Since 2010, evidence has emerged that the rapid spread of smoke occurs in and between UK buildings, including where accredited construction details and/or robust details are specified [1,2]. It is considered that this rapid smoke spread could be due to incorrect installation, missing, inappropriate or defective components, that make up compartmentation and fire stopping within concealed spaces [1–3]. These defects can compromise the ability of compartmentation to resist fire and smoke spread between dwellings and also into any means of escape. The impact of the defects could ultimately be detrimental to occupant safety, care staff with the occupants and also fire fighters, in the event of a real fire. In 2016, fire risk assessments undertaken in buildings before occupancy (that ascertain the performance of the building with respect to fire and smoke spread in accordance with Approved Document B) of the UK Building Regulations are based upon a visual review of building design details and documentation, and also visual inspection of as-built details. However, this approach is inadequate to identify defects in the components that make up compartmentation and fire stopping details in concealed spaces [3] since, it is impossible to determine with the naked eye whether these details have been installed as designed. Littlewood and Smallwood [1,2] have identified an urgent need to investigate the extent of these smoke spread problems within new dwellings being constructed in the UK and also the development for an appropriate compliance test which can identify issues in fire compartmentation and fire stopping and used before buildings are occupied - such as the in-construction testing (iCT) process. The paper also reviews different tests that can be employed as part of iCT methodology to identify the potential defects in fire compartmentation, and fire stops such as cavity barriers in buildings.

Urban Pollutant Transport and Infiltration into Buildings Using Perfluorocarbon Tracers.

People spend the majority of their time indoors and therefore the quality of indoor air is worthy of investigation; indoor air quality is affected by indoor sources of pollutants and from pollutants entering buildings from outdoors. In this study, unique perfluorocarbon tracers were released in five experiments at a 100 m and ~2 km distance from a large university building in Manchester, UK and tracer was also released inside the building to measure the amount of outdoor material penetrating into buildings and the flow of material within the building itself. Air samples of the tracer were taken in several rooms within the building, and a CO2 tracer was used within the building to estimate air-exchange rates. Air-exchange rates were found to vary between 0.57 and 10.90 per hour. Indoor perfluorocarbon tracer concentrations were paired to outdoor tracer concentrations, and in-out ratios were found to vary between 0.01 and 3.6. The largest room with the lowest air-exchange rate exhibited elevated tracer concentrations for over 60 min after the release had finished, but generally had the lowest concentrations, the room with the highest ventilation rates had the highest concentration over 30 min, but the peak decayed more rapidly. Tracer concentrations indoors compared to outdoors imply that pollutants remain within buildings after they have cleared outside, which must be considered when evaluating human exposure to outdoor pollutants.

Thermal properties of cob retrofitted with external hemp–lime

Insulating earth walls with an external layer of hemp–lime improves thermal performance in a sustainable way and could promote the wider use of earth in construction. Monolithic earth walls, known in Devon as cob, are widely used in many countries with temperate climates. Earth walls are a form of sustainable construction, but their thermal performance is poor when measured against current UK Building Regulations. Non-permeable, high-performance insulation materials may cause moisture-related problems in earth walling. Therefore, this paper describes the transient thermal properties of monolithic cob walls retrofitted with external hemp–lime insulation, which offers a permeable solution. The transient thermal properties of the walls are calculated using bespoke software developed for an earlier study of brick walls and the air-to-air thermal transmittance is determined for various thicknesses of hemp–lime insulation. Typical cob walls found in Devon have U-values >1 W/m2 K, or about three times the 0·3 W/m2 K UK Building Regulations target. For a 600 mm thick cob wall with 250 mm of external hemp–lime, a U-value of 0·3 W/m2 K is achieved. Five areas of concern are discussed briefly: caution, sustainability, acceptability, uncertainty in data and the possible energy and carbon dioxide savings.

Life cycle assessment of energy conservation measures during early stage office building design: A case study in London, UK

Embodied versus operational environmental indicators are often studied in isolation. This paper presents a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Analysis of energy conservation measures for a planned large, medium-rise office building in central London, UK with Gross Floor Area of 15,590m2 and a 60-year building lifetime. The original design complied with the UK Building Regulations Part L, achieving 40% operational carbon emission savings compared to Target Emissions Rate. The LCA solutions focused on structure, envelope, and operational systems. Embodied energy saving strategies encompassed the application of lean design principles and integration of low carbon materials. Operational energy saving techniques included the adoption of a fabric-first approach, adaptive thermal conditions and sustainable building systems. Cumulatively, these optimization strategies achieved a maximum of 16% and 13% savings on life cycle carbon and energy, respectively, compared to the original design. Embodied strategies saved 32% and 9% on embodied carbon and energy, respectively, while operational strategies reduced the original consumption by 14% on both indicators. Over a 60-year building lifetime, operational energy was 10 times higher than embodied energy, while operational carbon was 8 times higher than embodied carbon. The study findings have highlighted the significance of LCA for early stage building design decisions.

The impact of internal aerogel retrofitting on the thermal bridges of residential buildings: An experimental and statistical research

In this research, internal thermal superinsulation in residential buildings is experimentally and statistically evaluated in terms of potential thermal bridging effects. As a consequence of significant deviations in thermal resistance values in buildings at post-retrofit, large amounts of heat losses occur through non-insulated building elements such as separating walls. Therefore, it is of vital importance to determine the level of energy loss due to such thermal bridges through an internal thermal superinsulation retrofit conducted in a typical UK building. 20mm thick fibre–silica opaque aerogel blanket is implemented internally on the walls of a test bedroom, and the heat flux from the separating wall is measured and compared for the cases of pre and post-retrofit. The results reveal that the average amount of heat loss through the non-insulated separating wall at the post-retrofit is 5.86W/m2, whereas it is only 0.66W/m2 at the pre-retrofit. The results are also verified through a statistical model, which is presented for the first time in literature. The novel model is capable of providing information about potential energy loss from non-insulated walls as a function of location.

Exploring the status of corporate social responsibility disclosure in the UK building and construction industry

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the provision of environmental and social performance information have gained momentum over the past decade. In this respect, the practice of organisational accountability has expanded to include aspects of non-financial nature and issues that can enhance the transparency of business activities and empower stakeholders' decision making. In this paper, we attempt to shed light on the status of CSR reporting of the building and construction industry. Focusing on the UK, we benchmark the CSR reports of building and construction firms against the de facto standard for non-financial reports: the global reporting initiative guidelines. Findings indicate that the CSR reporting practices of assessed UK building and construction firms are lacking in key respects, leave much to be desired and have plenty of room for improvement.

Exploring the status of corporate social responsibility disclosure in the UK building and construction industry

Exploring the status of corporate social responsibility disclosure in the UK building and construction industry

Weaknesses and Suggestions of the Provisions of Fire Protection Regulations of Health Constructions

Healthcare buildings, require special arrangements in two separate areas like to ensure the evacuation strategy depends on the users mobility and including measures that can be taken against places of high risk of fire, in the step of providing fire safety. Unfortunately, there aren’t adequate regulations taking place for places of high fire risk and evacuation strategies of patients in the Regulation on Fire Protection in Buildings’ in Turkey. But, NFPA standards (National Fire Protection Association, USA) and International Standards used in the UK Building Regulations, UK.) contained related issues of regulations. In this working it is aimed to complete of the weaknesses in our regulations as a result of comparing the regulations of N.F.P.A. and B.R with fire safety regulations of Turkey and to ensure the fire safety of buildings in the best way in this direction. It is believed that the losses and occurance of fire can be decreased by organizing of special measures relating to patient evacuation and risky places

Monitoring results of CO2 avoidance with an 8.5kWh solar electric generator integrated in a high rise commercial building in UK

Sustainable energy technologies have become very attractive and effective at the moment for use in the UK and other parts of the world as techniques for reducing carbon footprints in the building sectors. These include micro-wind turbines, photovoltaics, small hydro power generators and bio-tech systems. Besides building integrated solar electric generators otherwise referred to as building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), which is aesthetically appealing and forms part of the applied building fabrics, most other options could deform the building aesthetics and require large spaces for both installation and operation especially, the wind turbine. These advantages and more make BIPV one of the most attractive sustainable energy technologies in contemporary building sectors at the moment. The technology involves the integration of photovoltaics (PV) modules into the fabric and shell of buildings like the roofs, asphalt shingles, facade materials and shading elements. Used in this way the integrated PV modules could replace conventional building materials thereby benefiting from improved capital cost and reduction of carbon footprint in the applied environment. However, one major lapse identified with previous studies had been the unavailability of numerical methods and quantification of the CO2 mitigated by applied low carbon technologies. Using a parametric method with the aid of Kyoto platform software integrated into a state of the art SMA data technology, this paper assesses and quantifies the CO2 avoidance by a building integrated solar electric system applied in a business/commercial building in the UK. The CO2 protection capacity of the solar electric system has been confirmed to be influenced by the different seasons of the year providing maximum environmental protection in the summer months.

ELIXIR UK building on Data and Software Carpentry to address the challenges in computational training for life scientists

ELIXIR UK building on Data and Software Carpentry to address the challenges in computational training for life scientists

Learning to listen? Exploring discourses and images of masculine leadership through corporate videos

Through analysing corporate videos, this article examines two chief executive officer leadership narratives in a UK Building Society that reflected and reproduced certain discourses of masculinity; the first expressed this through military images and metaphors while the second emphasised sport. This article makes three arguments for why certain expressions of masculinity may disengage those whose support managers are endeavouring to enlist. The first is that not all employees are attracted to images of war, conquest or competition. The second is that masculine sporting and warring discourses may repel staff when they are wielded against them. The final argument is that disenchantment is likely to result from enactments of masculinity that treat critical voices as a threat and where leaders simply seek to win the argument, silence opposition and refuse to ‘listen’ to alternative points of view. This analysis of leadership discourses is distinctive because it explores the visible (watching) and the verbal (listening). In this way, it exposes ‘hidden, gendered practices’ that are all too often neglected.

Mandating transparency about building energy performance in use

In 2002, the European Union Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was ratified. This paper uses the lens of one policy measure triggered by the EPBD – Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for non-domestic buildings – to describe the difficulties experienced in capitalizing on a policy intention to use transparency about actual energy performance to drive better energy management and focus energy efficiency investment on things that really work in practice. It reviews the history and precedents of UK Building Regulations and European building energy efficiency policies to identify what helped and hindered progress towards buildings that use less energy in operation; and compares and contrasts building energy certificates based on asset and operational ratings. It also looks at the development paths of operational rating schemes in the US and Australia. It identifies a tendency of regulators to focus on one part of the problem, the so-called ‘regulated loads'; an unhelpful split of government ownership of the topic between various ministries and agencies; a neglect of follow-through, enforcement and feedback; and a political rhetoric that favours an abdication of central government responsibilities to market forces. Based on this evidence, it identifies a number of lessons for improvements to future policy outcomes.

Measuring the potential of zonal space heating controls to reduce energy use in UK homes: The case of un-furbished 1930s dwellings

A matched pair of 1930s semi-detached houses, in original condition and un-refurbished in terms of energy efficiency, were employed to measure the energy savings that might result from the use of zonal space heating control (ZC). The houses were adjoined and had the same synthetic, yet realistic, occupancy schedule, the same new central heating system, and were exposed to the same weather conditions. In one house the space heating was controlled conventionally (CC) according to minimum requirements in UK Building Regulation Part L1B for existing dwellings, whereas in the other house ZC was used to heat the rooms only when they were ‘occupied’. Over an 8-week winter test period, the house with ZC used 11.8% less gas despite 2.4 percentage points drop in average daily boiler efficiency. Although zonal control reduced the mean indoor air temperature of the whole house by 0.6°C, it did not reduce the average air temperature in rooms during the hours of active ‘occupancy’. Normalisation and extrapolation of the results shows that, compared to CC, ZC could reduce annual gas demand for space heating by 12% in most regions of the UK, and that ZC would be a more effective energy efficiency measure in homes in the cooler, more northerly regions of the UK.