News archive for March, 2012
Thermal bridging in energy efficient buildings
Posted on March 29th 2012
A thermal bridge is created where materials that are relatively poor insulators are in contact across an insulation barrier. This creates a low resistance path for heat to escape from in an otherwise well insulated construction. Limiting thermal bridges is becoming increasingly important with higher environmental standards such as Code Level 4 and the impending 2013 Part L1a Building …
Shell and Core BREEAM for small commercial spaces
Posted on March 28th 2012
Many of our large residential schemes have relatively small commercial spaces which have to reach BREEAM standards for planning. We show below our recommended approach which should avoid any uncertainty: BREEAM New Construction Shell & Core Assessments are a less complex assessment specifically designed for later tenant fit out of commercial spaces. We recommend the use of this approach with …
Implementation of Flood Water Management Act moves closer
Posted on March 20th 2012
Implementation of the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) moved a step closer last week with the closing of the consultation period on the National Standards for SUDS. The Act will make the incorporation of SUDS compulsory for new development, with approval for surface water drainage design from a SUDS Approval Body (SAB) required before construction work can commence. This approval can …
Thermal mass: more complex than it first seems
Posted on March 16th 2012
The effects of thermal mass on a building are not straightforward. The effects of high thermal mass can be positive or negative depending on the fabric specification of a building. The graph below illustrates the effects of thermal mass on a semi-detached dwelling, by showing the change Dwelling Emission Rate (DER, measured in kg CO2/m2/yr) for the dwelling modelled with …