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Approximately 70% of the existing building stock will still be in use in 2050. A series of projects funded by EPSRC, FP7, Historic Scotland and English Heritage has changed the level of awareness on the impact of climate change on the thermal and moisture performance of traditional and historic buildings when considering improvements to their energy efficiency. This has helped set the agenda for the refurbishment of traditional buildings, for example advice on for the Green Deal has resulted in DECC commissioning further work, including a Responsible Retrofit Guidance Tool developed by the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance.
This study presents the impact of research by Plymouth's Environmental Building Group (EBG) and Centre for Earthen Architecture (CEA) on industry and regulatory bodies. These interconnected groups research the manufacture, construction, preservation and performance (thermal, hygral and acoustic) of new and old buildings of diverse construction, including earth, straw-bale and hemp-lime. EBG/CEA research has impacted the energy consumption of 690+ homeowners (21st Century Living; DECC/Eden) and contributed to national standards for construction and conservation (BRE/DEBA/English Heritage). Industry partnerships/projects include: Zero Carbon House, Kevin McCabe Ltd; Carfrae Sustainable Design; Hukseflux; Cornish Lime Company.
Alliance researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to refurbish existing buildings, which make up over 90% of our stock of over 26m buildings, to achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 80% (domestic properties) and 50% (non-domestic). The research has underpinned a shift of emphasis by UK government from new to existing buildings and the formulation of incentives to encourage building owners to make energy-saving improvements. In partnership with not-for-profit, public and private stakeholders, it has been used by national and local agencies to highlight the potential of improving the energy performance of traditionally constructed, timber-framed and residential mobile homes and incorporated into practical guidance by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. It is also the technical foundation for an educational software package developed with 100 school children and teachers and praised as exemplary by Education Scotland.
Research conducted by Professor Short in the use of natural ventilation and passive cooling in non-domestic buildings is altering policies and plans in the refurbishment of existing healthcare buildings and in new-build for acute and primary care, both within and outside the UK. Moreover, the massive demolition and replacement of healthcare building stock, presumed to be required to simultaneously adapt to the increased ambient temperatures due to climate change and mitigate carbon emissions through improved energy efficiency, has been shown to be unnecessary.
Exeter's Centre for Energy and the Environment has created novel probabilistic weather files for 50 locations across the UK, consisting of hourly weather conditions over a year, which have been used by the construction industry to test resilience of building designs to climate change. They have already had significant economic impact through their use in more than £3bn worth of infrastructure projects, for example, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Leeds Arena, and the Zero Carbon Passivhaus School. The weather files are widely available to professionals and endorsed by internationally leading building simulation software providers such as Integrated Environmental Solutions.
Research by staff of the Energy Systems Research Unit (ESRU) at Strathclyde has resulted in advances in the state-of-the-art in dynamic building energy modelling as encapsulated within the Open Source ESP-r program. This new capability enabled practitioners to analyse phenomena and technologies hitherto not capable of being modelled in building simulation tools. The impact stems from the embedding of ESP-r within companies resulting in service improvement and job creation, and applications of ESP-r resulting in energy demand reduction, low carbon energy systems integration and environmental impact mitigation.
Research at Loughborough University during the period 2008-2013 in the areas of control, commissioning and design of advanced naturally-ventilated buildings has led to:
A subsequent KTP project with SE Controls has led to:
Climate change will have a profound impact on built environment performance over the next 50 years. More severe flooding and overheating will lead to more obsolete buildings and premature mortality across the UK and Europe. The research team explored the issues surrounding adaptation of the built environment to climate change, and developed a new model of built asset management that integrates adaptation decision making into the building life cycle. The model is being used by facilities managers and surveyors to produce long term asset management plans, and by central and local government policy makers to inform and develop adaptation strategies.
Over the past 13 years the University of Bath has been leading research into low-impact bio-based construction materials, including the construction and testing of two full-scale prototype buildings: BaleHaus (2009) and HemPod (2010) built on campus. The research has directly promoted: the development and wider market acceptance of award winning low carbon construction products (ModCell® and Hemcrete®); successful delivery of award winning buildings; and the wider sector uptake of these technologies, including in a new school building in Bath. The work has directly benefited industry partners working to meet UK Government policy requirements to deliver low carbon infrastructure and benefited society through the delivery of affordable sustainable buildings.
Zoe Svendsen's 3rd Ring Out: Rehearsing the Future (3RO; 2010-2011) enhanced public understanding of and engagement with one of the most important social issues of our times through novel modes of performance and communication both live and online. This practice-as-research performance project had significant impact on a broad range of audience-participants, including policy-makers, local authorities, climate change communicators, other artists working in the field of art and climate change, children of school age and the general public. The project continues to attract requests for talks, policy meetings and/or further performances. The impact to date includes altering perceptions of both art and climate change, and of the relationship between them.