{"id":74408,"date":"2020-04-03T14:24:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T13:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=74408"},"modified":"2020-04-03T14:24:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T13:24:01","slug":"overheating-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/overheating-resilience\/74408\/","title":{"rendered":"How can construction tackle the overheating challenge?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Overheating is mainly a problem in densely populated areas but as over 80% of the UK population live in a city or town, we must think about how we mitigate or reverse this adverse effect. It\u2019s a challenge the construction and housebuilding industry is becoming increasingly aware of as it has the potential to seriously impact society<\/h2>\n<p>From negative impacts on health, poor thermal comfort and reduced productivity to reduced air quality, overheating has a detrimental effect on the economy and society at large. As such, we urgently need to confront the challenge head-on.<\/p>\n<p>One way in which we can achieve this is by reevaluating how we design property, and the materials which we specify for them. If we choose sustainable and energy efficient products and systems, we can create thermally efficient buildings which can reach optimum temperature and through good ventilation and fabric construction, can passively self-cool.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, we should be looking to the UK Government\u2019s current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/housebuilders-climate-emergency\/57060\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Future Homes Standards<\/a> Consultation for guidance, particularly the imminent publication of the revised Part L and Part F technical standards.<\/p>\n<h3>Standard Life<\/h3>\n<p>The exact details of the proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/part-l-building-regulations\/69400\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">changes to Part L<\/a> are not confirmed but could see a need for higher levels of fabric performance, either this year or the next time it\u2019s reviewed in 2025. However we do know the trajectory and it\u2019s much more about evolution than revolution, tweaking current design processes and increasing our understanding of fabric performance.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, we need to address the question of fabric performance in summer months, something which doesn\u2019t get discussed to quite the level of detail as I think it should. Nonetheless, with a government overheating consultation expected soon and new specification requirements to follow, it\u2019s important that we choose the right materials for construction. Masonry should be a primary consideration, and how cavity walls can deliver optimum thermal performance is a good place to start.<\/p>\n<h3>Optimal cavities<\/h3>\n<p>Although an increase in cavity widths to achieve U-Values of around 0.18 or better may not be necessary in the immediate future, it\u2019s worth looking at what this would mean. I\u2019ll use the most popular form, masonry construction, as an example.<\/p>\n<p>On projects where cavity width is a particular focus, the use of full fill PIR or phenolic insulation can deliver a 0.17-0.19 U-Value in a standard 100m cavity. By increasing the cavity to 150mm you can achieve exceptionally low scores of 0.12-0.14. You can equally achieve optimum results with mineral wool, ranging between 0.13-0.19 depending on cavity width.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there are some parts of the country with severe exposure, where full fill insulation is not an option. Here, a residual cavity is required. The good news is that very low U-Values can be achieved in partial fill cavities without the need for large cavity widths. Likewise, a solid masonry wall with weatherproof render can be just as effective. This means there won\u2019t be a need for prohibitively large cavities to accommodate insulation.<\/p>\n<p>What does this mean? Simply put, it\u2019s less materials, more efficient use of land, lower U-Values and a building with high thermal performance, designed to withstand the elements.<\/p>\n<h3>Massive is Passive<\/h3>\n<p>To ensure the best fabric performance, guaranteeing a property with thermal consistency in hot and cold weather, we should increasingly consider the advantages of Passive Solar Design (PSD). This is a systems approach which fits in line with the increasing move towards the incorporation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels onto a building\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n<p>Yet it goes further than that, encouraging the designer to think about the orientation of the building to deliver maximum output from the PV panels (in the northern hemisphere ideally facing to the south). Where this is possible, it will also enable the home to take advantage of the passive solar benefits during the winter season allowing solar gain through south-facing windows, warming the fabric of the building and reducing artificial heating demand.<\/p>\n<p>PSD works best with heavy materials like masonry, which has the required thermal mass to soak up solar gains. On winter days, masonry holds onto the solar gains and slowly releases the stored heat later in the day. During the cooling season, the thermal mass of a building can again soak up excess heat throughout the day and with effective ventilation, release the stored heat passively at night when temperatures cool.<\/p>\n<p>During the summer months a simple overhang, balcony or deep roof eaves can be used to keep the sun out of the south-facing windows, further preventing overheating. It\u2019s a very simple, traditional technique that has been somewhat forgotten in recent years as other design drivers have become more popular. PSD is a much more efficient process and will organically reduce the amount of retained energy, lowering the overall temperature over the course of the day and preventing overheating.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, by simply looking at the fabric of the building, ensuring a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/guides-reviews\/fabric-first-approach\/73272\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> fabric first approach<\/a> you can mitigate the risks of overheating. Furthermore, at planning stage, consider the aspect of the buildings and ways in which you can fit-out to lower the need for central heating. It\u2019s possible to create thermally consistent structures which rely on low-impact methods to retain and release heat gradually. Designing in this way, with an understanding of thermal performance, has the potential of preventing overheating.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chris Stanley<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Housing manager<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cba-blocks.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Concrete Block Association<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Stanley, housing manager at the Concrete Block Association (CBA), explores the need to improve resilience to overheating, from the building materials used to the way our structures are designed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[566,568,693,676,430,673,279,714,572,569,831,465,803],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-energy-news","7":"tag-air-quality","8":"tag-building-regulations","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-construction","11":"tag-energy-efficiency","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-heating","15":"tag-housebuilding","16":"tag-housing-standards","17":"tag-hvac","18":"tag-sustainable-construction","19":"tag-ventilation"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How can construction tackle the overheating challenge?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris Stanley, housing manager at the Concrete Block Association (CBA), explores the need to improve resilience to overheating\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/overheating-resilience\/74408\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How can construction tackle the overheating challenge?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris Stanley, housing manager at the Concrete Block Association (CBA), explores the need to improve resilience to overheating, from the building materials used to the way our structures are designed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/overheating-resilience\/74408\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building &amp; 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