For information and approval / BRETrustCouncil(10)21
BRE TRUST’S RESEARCH PROGRAMMES and EVENTS : Progress Reports – Second Quarter 2010)
This report is a summary of progress and developments in the Trust’s research programmes during the first quarter of the financial/research year 2010/11 (April – June 2010).
Topics covered are as follows:
A. Outcomes from Research projects completed in 2008/09 and 2009/10
B. BRE Trust Research Conference
C. Progress Report Managed Programme – Second Quarter 2010/11
D. Progress Report Thematic Research Programme – Second Quarter 2010/11
E. Progress Report Responsive Mode Programme 20010/11
F. BRE Trust PhD students
G. News from the NHBC Foundation
H. Update on the WRAP partnership
I. Dates of research events
A Outcomes from Research projects completed in late 2008/09 and 2009/10
At the last meeting a report on the outcomes from some of the research projects completed last year was provided. The Trustees requested that ‘start’ and ‘completion’ dates were noted. The following are a further selection from those that were completed during the financial years 2008/9 and 2009/10
068-09-H Consumer feedback on Innovation Park - Start 18-5-09 Finish 21-8-09 - Andrew Gemmell - £5,000 BRE Trust
Following the completion of “068-09-H Consumer feedback on Innovation Park” the main findings of the research were presented to the innovation park build partners so that key lessons learnt could be exploited by these developers and improvements could be made to their future designs. We then sort permission from the partners to publish the main findings of the research to a broader audience. Permission was granted for us to produce a BRE Trust information that highlighted the key general findings. This information paper (IP14/10) was published in August this year.
The report outlines the key consumer drivers and barriers to investment in low carbon homes. It is hoped the findings will be used by the industry to understand how best to stimulate interest and investment in the market whilst negating or removing barriers. The feedback can also be used by home builders to assist in the development of ever more appealing low carbon homes that are designed to meet the needs of the consumer.
This piece of work helped BRE win a project with Scottish and Southern Energy to monitor and evaluate 10 brand new code level 6 homes.
10/16/2007 Occupant behaviour in low Carbon buildings. Start 1-10-07 Finish 31-7-09 - Mindy Hadi - £59,440 BRE Trust
The research project and the publication arising from the work,'The Move to Low Carbon Design: are designers taking the needs of building users into account?' have been very well received by the industry and has been a lot of interest in the issues it raises. BRE has had a number of direct enquires from potential customers who wish to know how to purchase the publication and we have directed these to theBRE Bookshop.
BRE has had a number of opportunities to raise awareness of the work and the guide throughinvitations to presentat conferences and events as well asapproaches from journalists for contributions. These include:
· Carbon Trust Wales Masterclass
· BIFM Annual Conference
· IHEEM (Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estates Managers) Conference
· British Psychological Society Going Green event and publication
· Articles in journals including Constructing the Future.
Although it is difficult to quantify direct business opportunities, these have enabled the project team to raise the profile of BRE and their Post Occupancy Evaluation andUserCentredDesign capabilities - it has been a useful resource to showcase our expertiseand initiate work conversations with our existing and new clients
The project hasalso advanced our work in the these areas as it has enabled us to consolidate the lessons we have been seeing on Post Occupancy Evaluation projects over the years and increase our understanding of user behaviour. It has also led to a follow on bid we have submitted to the NHBC Foundation, looking at equivalent issues for domestic as opposed to non- domestic buildings.
13/25/2008 Better BREEAM ratings by Design. Start 1-9-08 Finish 30-9-09 - Virginia Cinquemani - £35,000 BRE Trust
This project has provided guidance to designers and their clients which sets out a timeline for the consideration of BREEAM related issues from inception through to construction and occupation. Following this guidance will ensure timely and cost effective consideration of sustainability in the design of buildings and so overcome the frequent loss of opportunities through a lack of action at the appropriate time. The guidance has been linked to thestages set out in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Outline Plan of Work as this provides a widely understood and used timeline which can be easily interpreted regardless of the procurement route being used for a specific project.
12/23/2006 A review of regulations and directives likely to affect the adoption of intelligent building systems. Start 01-08-2006 Finish 22-04-2008 – John Holden - £21,500 BRE Trust
A two part information paper'An Introduction to Intelligent Buildings' was produced and published. The knowledge generated during the project is now being used in the Modern Built Environment KTN project.
B. BRE Trust Research Conference
Feedback obtained at this year’s BRE Trust Research Conference suggested that legislators and those involved in Standards should be aware of the research that BRE group is involved in and should be invited to attend the conference in future. At the last meeting of Council, the Trustees requested that the BRE Trust Research Conference should be part of the mainstream of BRE Conferences organised by the BRE events team and be presented to a large influential audience.
Following discussions with the events team, current plans are to link the BRE Trust Research Conference with the BRE Conference which is to be held in May 2011. The BRE Trust Research Conference would take place in the morning and the BRE Conference in the afternoon. The advantages of this arrangement are:
· Invitees could choose to attend one or both conferences. BRE would encourage all to attend both. This avoids attendees needing to take two days out of the office to attend two BRE conferences which are closely related and due to take place in the same month. This will encourage attendance at the Research Conference.
· The invitation list is likelyto include many of the same guests.
· The venue has to be hired all day. Marketing, advertising, invitations and catering are shared, allowing the two conferences to be run for slightly more than the price of one.
· The conference can be held in London at a prestigious venue, whichwill have easy transport links.
· The promotion of the leading edge research of the BRE group would tie in well with the high level thinking discussed at the BRE conference.
· 2011 also see the 90th Birthday of BRE and 21st Birthday of BREEAM. A whole day event in London couldalso be seen as a celebration of this anniversary.
C Progress Report Managed Programme – Second Quarter 2010/11
A total of 21 contracts were active during the reporting period 1 July to 30 September 2010.
The following three projects were completed during the period:
Contract Ref. / Project Title / Project Leader / Started / Completed / Value32/21/2008 / Smoke detection in high ceiling spaces / Raman Chagger / 01-10-08 / 21-09-10 / £15,000
As part of a project co-funded by the BRE Trust, the Fire Industry Association and a task group of aspirating smoke detector (ASD) manufacturers, research work was conducted into the detection of fires in high ceiling spaces. The current limitations of maximum ceiling heights and detection capabilities of different technologies are not fully understood. The project objective was to research, understand and provide guidance as to the capabilities and limitations of different detection technologies to fires in high ceiling spaces.
Fire tests were conducted in a 43.5m high hangar and confirmed that the smoke from relatively small fires reached the ceiling level. Seven optical beam smoke detectors (OBSD) were used (four in a layer 16.5m from the ground and three just below the ceiling) and three ASDs were used (all located just below the ceiling). All detectors used during the fire tests were approved by the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) to the relevant EN 54 standard.
The results of the fire tests show that both ASD and OBSD systems are capable of detecting smoke in high ceiling spaces although for both technologies suitable sensitivity levels are required to produce an acceptable response. The results also show the benefits of using integrative type smoke detection with high ceiling spaces.
The outcomes from the project are explained in more detail in “Smoke detection in high ceiling spaces” (to be published shortly by IHS-BRE Press). The results are currently confidential pending approval by the equipment manufacturers.
Contract Ref. / Project Title / Project Leader / Started / Completed / Value
12/08/2008 / Solid state lighting – overcoming the barriers / Paul Littlefair / 19-01-09 / 23-07-10 / £99,475
Solid state lighting (SSL) using light emitting diodes is the major growth area in lighting. By 2020 it is anticipated that best practice SSL will be twice as energy efficient as the best comparable existing light sources. However, there are several main barriers to widespread adoption of SSL, two of which were addressed in this project. They are:
· Colour performance. Currently accepted measurements of colour rendering do not necessarily correlate well with user perception of acceptability.
· Building owners, designers and installers are unaware of the benefits of SSL and lack the skills required to implement it in buildings.
The results suggested that the colour rendering index (CRI) was a poor indicator of colour preference; the 35W halogen lamp was less preferred than its LED counterparts even though it had the highest CRI. Of the 50W equivalents, the lamp with the lowest CRI was most preferred. This lamp was a tuneable LED which had been specially set up to have a higher colour quality system (CQS) rating. Although the CQS gave better correlation with the order preference it did not give 100% correlation with observer preferences.
These results have been described in a paper submitted to Lighting Research and Technology and will be disseminated further at a seminar being held by BRE in November 2010.
The second barrier that was addressed in this project was that building owners, designers and installers are unaware of the benefits of SSL and lack the skills required to implement it in buildings. This barrier was addressed in two main ways. An Information Paper has been written entitled ‘Specifying LED lighting’. The Information Paper outlines the advantages of LED lighting and explains the parameters that need to be specified for LED installations. The IP is intended for building owners and facilities managers, interior designers, electrical installers and services engineers.
In addition a general interest paper has been written and submitted to Homebuilding and Renovating magazine entitled ‘LED Lighting’. The paper explains how to choose and use LEDs. A second paper entitled ‘Preferences for LED colour’ has been submitted to Lighting magazine. The conclusions were that LEDs with the right spectral mix may be preferred to halogen lamps.
Contract Ref. / Project Title / Project Leader / Started / Completed / Value
087-10-H / Building Regulations- a paper to support review / Roger Sadgrove / 12-05-10 / 30-06-10 / £11,500
Building regulations are a means of ensuring that all construction (both new and refurbished) meets what are considered to be reasonable minimum standards at the time that the work takes place. Historically they have primarily covered safety (structure and fire) and health (sanitation and weather resistance) but have more recently started to include matters of current concern such as energy use and sustainability.
Research shows that the UK has a long history of legal controls in building construction. It is believed that the first formalised building regulations originated in London between 1180 and 1260 where problems were encountered in the densely populated capital. Current national regulations were developed during the middle part of the twentieth century. They were largely targeted at domestic construction and contained empirical rules derived from the “traditional” construction of the time.
The England and Wales Regulations are currently divided into 14 Parts, each generally covering a single performance aspect. UK Building Regulations are one of the most mature in the world. They have developed and have been technically refined over 6 decades, the vision for adaptation and change being informed by ‘political’ will and vision. These can be varied and are to some extent influenced by political orientation and personal preferences of influential civil servants.
The concept of a building code, regulation or control is identical throughout the world. It provides a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects, such as buildings but also other structures. The main purpose of building regulations is to protect the public from undue risks.
The discussion is separated into two parts, firstly related to proposals made by the previous government and secondly to considering alternative approaches. It is recommended that Building Regulations continue to be implemented by statute but that the process of administration should, as far as is reasonably practicable, be devolved from both central and local government.
The objective should be to develop a robust system that makes the fullest use of the best available knowledge, is quick to respond to change, which publishes clear authoritative guidance for those who need it while allowing those with the necessary competencies to operate with minimum bureaucratic input and which is self financing.
Current progress
Output Delivery for FY 2010/2011
Outputs / 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010Total No. of outputs due / 291
Outputs received in year / 21 (72%)
Outputs not received in year / 7
Outputs outstanding by < 1 month / 22
Outputs outstanding by > 1 month / 13
Outputs outstanding by > 2 months / 0
Outputs outstanding by > 3 months / 54
1. Includes 1 output outstanding from FY 2009/2010
2. 13/13/2007 MS 7;12/26/2008 (Balanced scorecard) MS5