Max Fordham has been testing the pilot version of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard to see if its projects would hit the carbon limits. The firm’s Henry Pelly reveals which building types are providing the most difficult challenges
Category: Technical
Getting it right: simulation tool for integrating environmental design
A new integrated simulation tool aims to close the gap between architectural form-making and environmental performance at the earliest stages of design. Joel Callow, founding director at Beyond Carbon, explains how it works
Making compliance work smarter: AI tools for building regulations
A new AI Platform aims to solve the ‘information crisis’ in building services engineering. Dr Carl-Magnus von Behr explains how sector-specific AI tools can help building services professionals manage rising compliance pressures, fragmented guidance and growing documentation demands.
Hot-water boost to heat network efficiency
Jacobs has designed a Generation 4.5 heat network that uses an innovative boost electrode to deliver domestic hot water, allowing the system to operate efficiently at a 45°C flow temperature for 80% of the year. The company’s Adam Selvey FCIBSE explains how it works
Gateway to failure: building safety flaws uncovered
The Building Safety Regulator has published a case study that demonstrates some of the failures that are causing 70% of all designs to be rejected at Gateway 2 of the building control regime for higher-risk buildings
Departure from the norm: digital optimisation at Sydney Airport
By harnessing advanced analytics and machine learning, A.G. Coombs Group and Exergenics delivered major energy savings in the chiller systems at Sydney Airport, at minimum cost. Molly Tooher-Rudd finds out how
Clearing the smoke: firesafe materials in shafts
Gypsum-based systems may be wrongly specified for smoke shafts in high-rise buildings, as they are not tested for critical pressure and leakage conditions. Alex Smith summarises guidance issued by the smoke control industry
Weathering the heat: CIBSE Weather Data
CIBSE’s latest Weather Data Set enables designers to much more accurately model potential overheating in their buildings, helping them to provide comfortable spaces with minimum mechanical cooling. Zoe De Grussa reports
Air levels: passing the embodied carbon test
A review of a hybrid and active ventilation system in a secondary school aims to highlight the embodied carbon impacts of choosing one ventilation strategy over another. Mat Naccarato, of Savills Earth, describes the method and key learnings
Heat in transition: decarbonisation of heating
Experts laid out the case for accelerating the move from gas boilers to heat pumps at the CIBSE Decarbonisation of Heating and Cooling conference last month. Molly Tooher-Rudd reports