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Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) within Skanska
Posted on: 31 March 2014
By: mackene
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This webinar aimed to provide the definition of Post Occupancy (Design) Evaluation from the Skanska perspective. A brief background and recent history of POE in the wider industry was also summarised. The reasons why POE is thought to be a cost effective means of providing useful feedback to improve designs for the benefit of clients was covered. Also the description of how Skanska made the decision to engage with the process and the description of the methodology adopted. This also included defining limitations, articulating the risks and their mitigation and the alignment with the original brief for the project. A number of case study projects including hospitals, schools and office buildings were briefly described and the relevant findings summarised. Technical issues and their interface with Building Information Modelling (BIM) will be introduced. Similarly the social aspect of occupant behaviour weretouched upon. Behaviour has the capacity to influence the sensitive issue of energy consumption potentially more than the technical and design parameters.
Cities and energy: Urban morphology and heat energy demand
Posted on: 27 March 2014
By: mackene
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LSE Cities has published a new report and paper on the impact of urban morphology on heat energy demand in cities in collaboration with the European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The research focuses on heat energy efficiencies created by the spatial configuration of cities and is based on the identification of the five most dominant residential building typologies in each of the four largest European cities: London, Paris, Berlin and Istanbul.
Building Enclosure Sustainability Symposium and Sustainable Building Conference. Towards net zero. Pomona, California, 24-25 June 2013
Posted on: 26 March 2014
By: mackene
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The Building Enclosure Sustainability Symposium (BESS) was initiated in 2009 through a partnership of the Department of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University Pomona and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. The symposium was designed to bring together professionals from academia, architecture, engineering and construction, as well as students, to discuss state-of-the-art sustainable building enclosure design. Proceedings are available online.
Pushing the boundaries: Net positive buildings. Vancouver, 4-6 June 2013
Posted on: 26 March 2014
By: mackene
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This event explored the notion that building design approaches can and should have eco-positive outcomes. Proceedings are available online.
Barriers for deconstruction and reuse/recycling of construction materials
Posted on: 25 March 2014
By: mackene
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This report has been produced by CIB Working Commission W115 “Construction Materials Stewardship”. The mission of Working Commission W115 is to drastically reduce the deployment and consumption of new non-renewable construction materials, to replace non- renewable materials with renewable ones whenever possible, to achieve equilibrium in the demand and supply of renewable materials and ultimately to restore the renewable resource base, and carry out these tasks in ways to maximize positive financial, social and environmental and ecological sustainability effects, impacts and outcomes. This report is the fifth product of W115 and provides an overview of barriers for deconstruction and reuse/recycling of construction materials across the world through a series of country reports from Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and United State of America.
Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance
Posted on: 24 March 2014
By: mackene
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The Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (STBA) is a collaboration of not for profit organisations that acts as a forum for sustaining and improving traditional buildings in the UK. The STBA aims to promote and deliver a more sustainable traditional built environment in the UK through high quality research, education, training and policy.
Closing the gap between design and as-built performance
Posted on: 14 March 2014
By: mackene
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The Zero Carbon Hub has released its latest report continuing the work on the Design versus As-Built Performance Gap Project. This report summarises the evidence gathering and assessment process undertaken between August 2013 and January 2014. It provides industry and government with a structured review of how and where the Performance Gap occurs within the current housebuilding process. This has involved a co-ordinated analysis of published literature and confidential industry research, and the development of a process review methodology to gather primary evidence from housebuilding delivery teams, including visits to live construction sites. The evidence collected so far has been used to prioritise which issues are considered to be the major contributors to the performance gap. It identifies 15 issues classified as ‘Priority for Action’ that require solutions in the very near future, by industry, and where necessary, involving Government intervention.
Housing Standards Review: Summary of responses
Posted on: 13 March 2014
By: mackene
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The Department for Communities and Local Government issued a consultation in August 2013, seeking views on the results of a review of local housing standards. The review proposed a radical reform of the framework of building regulations, guidance, local codes and discretionary technical housing standards that are currently applied to new housing through the planning system. It aimed to reduce bureaucracy and costs on house builders to support growth, whilst delivering quality, sustainability, safety and accessibility. The DCLG has published an analysis of the responses received. It does not set out how the Government intends to take these proposals forward. Decisions on the implementation of proposals will be the subject of separate statements.
Climate protection at municipal level: ten-point plan for the building sector
Posted on: 13 March 2014
By: mackene
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Climate protection starts at the local level, and energy efficiency in buildings is one of the more important tasks in this respect. To assist municipalities, the Passive House Institute has published a position paper on the topic. The paper sets out a ten-point programme with specific recommendations detailing how cities and communities can take their commitment forward in an effective way. One of the focal points is the Passive House Standard, which enables energy savings of up to 90%. In developed countries, over a third of the total energy consumption is used in the building sector. In recent years, many communities all over Europe have taken initiative, promoting the use of highly efficient Passive House technology. This successful approach has been supported by many, including by the EU through the PassREg project, coordinated by the Passive House Institute. Experiences gained by the various municipal partners during the project, whether in Brussels, Hanover, or Tyrol, formed the basis for the guidelines found in the paper.
Resource efficiency of building services
Posted on: 11 March 2014
By: mackene
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A new CIBSE guide has been produced in partnership with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), a company that advises governments and businesses on how to get greater value out of resources. TM56 Resource efficiency of building services, aims to help engineers assess the whole-life environmental footprint of materials and products.
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