Better prediction of overheating in new homes
A detailed study of three modern, energy-efficient flats has been carried out to improve the means of predicting indoor temperatures and the risk of overheating, when designing multi-residential buildings.
Overheating in modern homes – which are often designed with a focus on improving energy efficiency – is a growing problem and likely to be exacerbated by climate change. To counter this, it is important when designing buildings to reliably assess indoor temperatures and the potential for overheating. These are typically predicted with dynamic simulations, using Building Performance Simulation (BPS) tools.
BPS tools need accurate data on a complex range of issues in the areas of climate, site context, building fabric, building services and occupant behaviour. All of these bring high levels of uncertainty that make correctly predicting indoor temperature very difficult, and can lead to a gap between the expected and actual performance.
A BRE Trust supported PhD project has been conducted by Kostas Mourkos at Loughborough University, to improve BPS tools’ reliability when predicting overheating risks in homes in multi-residential buildings. This was achieved by studying in detail three modern energy-efficient flats located in London. The flats are representative of many high-density developments built in London in recent years.
Areas of overheating assessments that have been revealed as needing improvement by the analysis include:
- Specifying input values for parameters, such as the ventilation rates of mechanical ventilation systems.
- Providing guidance on handling the thermal interaction between communal spaces and the assessed flat.
- Examining different infiltration and exfiltration pathways.
The analysis also identified the key parameters influencing the observed gap between predicted and monitored indoor air temperature. While demonstrating how such a gap can be efficiently bridged through Bayesian calibration, this research showed that predicting overheating accurately remains challenging.
The research recommended that an overheating assessment should incorporate sources of uncertainty (such as occupant behaviour), by providing a range of values – instead of a single value – of the desired Building Performance Indicator (BPI). It should also consider using less sensitive overheating metrics.
Kostas was supervised by Prof Christina Hopfe and Dr Rob McLeod at Graz University of Technology, Dr Chris Goodier at Loughborough University, and Dr Mick Swainson at BRE. For more information contact Kostas (k.mourkos@lboro.ac.uk) or access the paper.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- BRE articles.
- BRE Trust.
- Building Research Establishment.
- Heat stress.
- Home Quality Mark high temperature reporting tool.
- Human comfort in buildings.
- Overheating - assessment protocol.
- Overheating in residential properties.
- Overheating.
- Preventing overheating.
- Solar gain.
- Thermal comfort.
- Thermal indices.
- Thermal pleasure in the built environment.
Featured articles and news
Practice costs for architectural technologists
Salary standards and working out what you’re worth.
The Health and Safety Executive at 50
And over 200 years of Operational Safety and Health.
Thermal imaging surveys a brief intro
Thermal Imaging of Buildings; a pocket guide BG 72/2017.
Internally insulating a historical building
An experimental DIY approach using mineral thermal lime plaster.
Tree species selection for green infrastructure: A guide for specifiers.
50 million new trees over 25 years.
Art of Building CIOB photographic competition public vote
The last week to vote for a winner until 10 January 2025.
The future of the Grenfell Tower site
Principles, promises, recommendations and a decision expected in February 2025.
20 years of the Chartered Environmentalist
If not now, when?
Journeys in Industrious England
Thomas Baskerville’s expeditions in the 1600s.
Top 25 Building Safety Wiki articles of 2024
Take a look what most people have been reading about.
Life and death at Highgate Cemetery
Balancing burials and tourism.
The 25 most read articles on DB for 2024
Design portion to procurement route and all between.
The act of preservation may sometimes be futile.
Twas the site before Christmas...
A rhyme for the industry and a thankyou to our supporters.
Plumbing and heating systems in schools
New apprentice pay rates coming into effect in the new year
Addressing the impact of recent national minimum wage changes.