Final Report Summary - BUPESA (Building Performance Evaluation for Sustainable Architecture) Final Summary Report for BuPESA EU Marie-Curie Intra European Fellowship 2013-2015 Contacts: Professor Fionn Stevenson, The University of Sheffield, UK, email: f.stevenson@sheffield.ac.uk Dr. Magdalena Baborska- Narozny, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland email: magdalena.baborska-narozny@pwr.edu.pl https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/bupesa/The principle aim of this EU Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship project was to develop and test new methods for comparing the original design intentions of housing regeneration and development with the actual outcomes of the construction process and performance of the final design product in use. This included detailed evaluation of the usability of the buildings and user control elements (heating, ventilation, lighting, acoustics, internal appliances) in relation to the well-being and behaviour of the occupants, with key recommendations for future design work in relation to these factors. A secondary aim was to train an experienced academic from Poland in the full range of building performance and transfer these skills and a bespoke process to Poland where building performance evaluation is less established. The findings are relevant for the following target groups: policy-makers, to inform their regulatory processes, industry, to inform their housing products and process developments, academics, to inform building performance modelling and methodology, and finally, civil organisations promoting good housing design and delivery.The two selected urban housing projects for testing are LILAC - the UK’s first ecological affordable co-housing project, which uses an innovative straw/timber construction process, and Saxton – a national award winning regeneration of social housing apartments using an innovative retrofit approach. Both projects are in Leeds and have benefitted from a state of the art evaluation of building performance to help the clients monitor and improve current performance, fine tune the buildings and feedback lessons learnt into future procurement, design and maintenance processes for the industry. Key conclusions from the evaluation of these innovative processes for housing are:• Centralised mechanical ventilation systems (MVHR or MEV) require more careful design consideration and the co-ordination of relevant engineer and installer from early on in design process, particularly in relation to innovative construction systems for new build or retrofit.• Thermal bridging needs more close attention at the design and installation stages to avoid heat loss.• Overheating of homes in the summer can be a risk in relation to innovative fabric design, with greater care needed to ensure passive fabric and ventilation cooling strategies are in place alongside any mechanical ventilation cooling systems.• Within a multi-story building the apartments located higher (up to three top floors) need less heating in the heating season but tend to overheat more.The two new evaluation methods developed are a social learning tool: a framework of information needed to enable a community understand better potential for lowering energy and water use through comparison of consumption within the development, and a unique usability tool to help evaluate the effectiveness of each control interface that people come into direct contact with – the ‘touch-points’ of the home. The new questionnaire can be combined with multi-modal analysis including video, photography, environment-behaviour observation, ethnographic walk-throughs and interviews. This deals with the increasing problem of complexity in environmental controls for housing as new technologies are deployed, identifies how controls can be improved in terms of design. Both innovative developments are described on the BuPESA website and in published papers. Key conclusions from the research and development of the Usability Tool are:• Major differences between households in skills to use controls relating to age, background, gender • Prevailing lack of occupant skills and awareness to interact with maintenance controls: gas and water cut off points, fire alarm• Design and installation of key control systems relating to heating and ventilation remains poor and needs further simplification for all users benefit • Need for improved quality and communication of maintenance guidance and training for households in new homes• The Usability Survey developed was successfully piloted and would benefit from further R&D to make it more streamline while retaining its bespoke nature.Key conclusions from the research and development of the Social Learning Tool are:• A general lack of awareness of differences in occupant skills and understanding of environmental controls can exist within a housing development, as people are not always willing to show each other that they don’t understand how to use their home. • The assumption that generic training for occupants is enough to help them learn how to use their homes must be questioned – more bespoke training is needed to match occupants different learning • Closed Social Media forums (e.g. ‘Facebook’ groups) can provide an excellent means for occupants in larger housing developments to safely explore their understanding of their home and collectively develop solutions, drawing on the expertise available with the forum and externally.• Learning through social interaction within a housing community can unlock individual misperceptions of control through exposure to different ways of approaching and dealing with the same comfort/energy/water saving issues.These findings have been widely disseminated and have informed policy thinking of the UK government Homes and Communities Agency, the UK Association for Environment Conscious Builders, as well as Academics and Practitioners through the UK ESRC Seminar Series ‘Collaborative Housing and Community Resilience’ which is hosting six national events in 2015-16. At an EU level, the results have directly informed two further EU Horizon 2020 major project proposals under review: COST Action Proposal OC-2015-1-19626 ‘Collaborative research on collaborative housing’ and EE-06-2015 Proposal 696147 ‘HeatDres’- key new partnerships have formed with TNO, TU Delft in The Netherlands, SP in Sweden, and LSE in UK. It is anticipated that the results of this project will have major impact on the development of policy and practice relating Building Performance Evaluation in Poland through research development at TU Wroclaw, and a planned bi-lateral UK/Polish BPE Symposium led by TU Wroclaw in 2016. The two improved Building Performance tools developed, with appropriate feedback loops, can improve design and reduce systemic errors in the housing construction industry. They have improved occupants’ effective interaction with their home as well as their health and wellbeing by avoiding the build-up of indoor mould and ensuring comfort is more easily maintained by the occupants themselves. It is anticipated that occupants are now empowered make more effective energy and water savings through the use of both these tools. Related documents final1-summary-report-section-only-07-08-15.docx