BRI Research Series – serie

Current expectations and standards of comfort are almost certainly unsustainable and new methods and ideas will be required if there is to be any prospect of a significantly lower carbon society. This collection reassesses relationships between people and the multitude of environments they inhabit in the context of increasing carbon intensities of everyday life. In this bold and unconventional volume historians, sociologists, environmentalists, geographers, and cultural theorists provoke and stimulate debate about the future of comfort in a lower carbon society. These contributions are then subject to critical commentary from a range of academic and policy perspectives. The result is a book that promotes academic and policy discussion of the environmental consequences of indoor climate change around the world, and that offers new perspectives and strategies for moving towards a lower carbon future.This book was published as a special issue of Building Research & Information.

The Recovery of Natural Environments in Architecture challenges the modern practice of sealing up and mechanically cooling public scaled buildings in whichever climate and environment they are located. This book unravels the extremely complex history of understanding and perception of air, bad air, miasmas, airborne pathogens, beneficial thermal conditions, ideal climates and climate determinism. It uncovers inventive and entirely viable attempts to design large buildings, hospitals, theatres and academic buildings through the 19th and early 20th centuries, which use the configuration of the building itself and a shrewd understanding of the natural physics of airflow and fluid dynamics to make good, comfortable interior spaces. In exhuming these ideas and reinforcing them with contemporary scientific insight, the book proposes a recovery of the lost art and science of making naturally conditioned buildings.

Current expectations and standards of comfort are almost certainly unsustainable and new methods and ideas will be required if there is to be any prospect of a significantly lower carbon society. This collection reassesses relationships between people and the multitude of environments they inhabit in the context of increasing carbon intensities of everyday life. In this bold and unconventional volume historians, sociologists, environmentalists, geographers, and cultural theorists provoke and stimulate debate about the future of comfort in a lower carbon society. These contributions are then subject to critical commentary from a range of academic and policy perspectives. The result is a book that promotes academic and policy discussion of the environmental consequences of indoor climate change around the world, and that offers new perspectives and strategies for moving towards a lower carbon future.This book was published as a special issue of Building Research & Information.

This book focuses on the relationship between buildings and our health and wellbeing, and by extension our quality of life. Expanding on the 50th anniversary Special Issue of Building Research & Information (BRI), which was dedicated to health and wellbeing, articles have been extended and updated to complement contributions from new authors. Building Health and Wellbeing covers design for ageing, energy poverty and health, productivity and thermal comfort in offices, housing space and occupancy standards, and much more. The aim is to explore the inter-relationship between people and our buildings. Chapters are supported with new case studies to illustrate global approaches to a common challenge, while demonstrating local strategies to suit different climates. The content covers housing, offices, and healthcare facilities and the unique aspect of the book is the people perspective, providing outlooks from different age groups and users of buildings. It will act as an important reference for academics in the built environment and healthcare sectors.

This book focuses on the relationship between buildings and our health and wellbeing, and by extension our quality of life. Expanding on the 50th anniversary Special Issue of Building Research & Information (BRI), which was dedicated to health and wellbeing, articles have been extended and updated to complement contributions from new authors. Building Health and Wellbeing covers design for ageing, energy poverty and health, productivity and thermal comfort in offices, housing space and occupancy standards, and much more. The aim is to explore the inter-relationship between people and our buildings. Chapters are supported with new case studies to illustrate global approaches to a common challenge, while demonstrating local strategies to suit different climates. The content covers housing, offices, and healthcare facilities and the unique aspect of the book is the people perspective, providing outlooks from different age groups and users of buildings. It will act as an important reference for academics in the built environment and healthcare sectors.

This book provides an overview of the circular economy in the built environment, presenting a fusion of insights from esteemed researchers and seasoned practitioners. The chapters cover pivotal themes, including the transformative concept of buildings as material banks, innovative design approaches, and the potential of digitalization for a circular built environment. Beyond these foundational themes, the book critically addresses the integration of low-tech solutions and some principles of sobriety in the built environment. It also takes an informed look at the role of standardization, providing nuanced insights into its driving influence on circular practices and the associated challenges and opportunities.The book adopts a trans-scalar perspective by traversing the entire spectrum of building phases from initial programming to the recovery phase, as well as from the scale of materials to the scale of buildings, offering a profound examination of the intricate dynamics involved in the offer/demand for recovered materials. This book highlights the paramount need to harmonize research with practical applications. By spotlighting effective circular practices and elucidating the challenges faced by practitioners, it identifies fertile grounds for further research. Moreover, the book extends its reach by offering practical ideas on how practitioners can seamlessly adopt a circular approach in both thought and realization.Circular Economy for the Built Environment: Research and Practice is a must-read book for students, researchers, academics, and practitioners in the fields of architecture, planning, engineering, construction, and real estate. This book provides a compelling narrative that bridges the theoretical and practical realms of the circular economy in the built environment.

This book provides an overview of the circular economy in the built environment, presenting a fusion of insights from esteemed researchers and seasoned practitioners. The chapters cover pivotal themes, including the transformative concept of buildings as material banks, innovative design approaches, and the potential of digitalization for a circular built environment. Beyond these foundational themes, the book critically addresses the integration of low-tech solutions and some principles of sobriety in the built environment. It also takes an informed look at the role of standardization, providing nuanced insights into its driving influence on circular practices and the associated challenges and opportunities.The book adopts a trans-scalar perspective by traversing the entire spectrum of building phases from initial programming to the recovery phase, as well as from the scale of materials to the scale of buildings, offering a profound examination of the intricate dynamics involved in the offer/demand for recovered materials. This book highlights the paramount need to harmonize research with practical applications. By spotlighting effective circular practices and elucidating the challenges faced by practitioners, it identifies fertile grounds for further research. Moreover, the book extends its reach by offering practical ideas on how practitioners can seamlessly adopt a circular approach in both thought and realization.Circular Economy for the Built Environment: Research and Practice is a must-read book for students, researchers, academics, and practitioners in the fields of architecture, planning, engineering, construction, and real estate. This book provides a compelling narrative that bridges the theoretical and practical realms of the circular economy in the built environment.

Integrated Perspectives in Offsite Construction offers a comprehensive analysis of the multifaceted aspects of offsite construction and addresses critical gaps to advance this promising field. This book broadens the scope of offsite construction beyond manufacturing and assembly, incorporating the entire building life cycle from pre-construction (e.g., project initiation and design) to post-construction (e.g., occupancy and evaluation) to provide an integrated perspective. The first section explores pre-construction topics, including user perception, architectural design, and offsite construction supply chain selection and management. The second section highlights manufacturing, transportation, and assembly processes, focusing on the role of computational technologies in improving efficiency and sustainability. The final section examines post-occupancy evaluation and disassembly, offering lessons from real-world projects and identifying opportunities for improvement.This book addresses crucial gaps in current practices by providing integrated perspectives from various stakeholders, showcasing the impact of technological advancements on the process, and illustrating the importance of collaboration among diverse stakeholders to enable successful implementation. With its holistic view and practical insights, it is a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, educators, and industry professionals seeking to navigate and advance offsite construction.

This book represents an initiative to amalgamate research findings from a diverse array of international perspectives on building permits, addressing their innovation and digital evolution. With a comprehensive approach, the publication endeavours to encapsulate global scientific advancements, practices, and takeaways within the realm of digital building permit systems. Ranging through a diverse set of disciplines, related to the different systems and aspects of digital building permitting, it provides stakeholders and researchers with a comprehensive overview, which should be grasped as a whole to allow for real progress in digitalisation of building permit procedures.Central to the narrative of the book is the theme of the digital transformation reshaping building permit systems globally. By undertaking an in-depth exploration and examination of best practices, it seeks to furnish readers with a nuanced understanding of the opportunities and challenges inherent in this digital transformation. In consolidating a wealth of knowledge, including best practices and case studies from multiple countries, the book aims to demystify the complex domain of building permit systems. It serves as a comprehensive guide, starting from bothersome tasks, such as breaking down intricate regulations and technicalities into digestible information, thereby facilitating greater accessibility and understanding.This book significantly contributes to understanding digital building permits from a global perspective. Advancements, projects, and experiences are considered globally to provide the reader with an overview of opportunities and relevant methods to approach building permit digitalisation and innovation (regulations, process, organisational adjustments, legal aspects, 3D data, and software architectures, among others). The book is an essential reading for researchers and professionals with interests in different sectors encompassing the built environment.

Smart And Innovative Solutions for a Net-Zero Built Environment brings together research findings from various scholars around the globe to introduce smart and innovative solutions to achieve a net-zero built environment at different phases of a built asset’s lifecycle. It probes into various Industry 4.0 solutions that aim at reducing embodied carbon in multiple construction supply chains. Innovative design approaches such as smart home designs and 3D printed houses are introduced as net-zero carbon solutions within this book. Effective use of building information modelling with systematic integration of other smart technologies are proposed as solutions for carbon reduction in design and construction phases. To reduce operational carbon in the use phase, the book delves into digital twin applications and their meaningful integration with global standards. The book further embarks on different artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools to unlock their possibilities in carbon reduction throughout different phases of built assets. The introduction of digital passports by integrating BIM, blockchain and IoT technologies to achieve smart circularity offer a sustainable net-zero solution beyond end-of life of built assets to next-use phases.Overall, the book aims to bring together leading-edge smart solutions that consider both embodied and operational carbon reduction throughout the building life cycle in its drive to achieve net-zero carbon. It blends cutting-edge research, innovative solutions and insightful perspectives from global scholars to offer a detailed understanding on the role of technology in net zero carbon initiatives within the construction industry. The book unveils smart strategies, innovative technologies, and visionary approaches to achieve a net-zero built environment. The target audience for this book are professionals in the construction industry, sustainability experts, educators and students engaged in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction and sustainable programs. Readers will advance their knowledge of how smart technologies can be strategically leveraged to achieve a net-zero built environment towards a sustainable future.

The Recovery of Natural Environments in Architecture challenges the modern practice of sealing up and mechanically cooling public scaled buildings in whichever climate and environment they are located. This book unravels the extremely complex history of understanding and perception of air, bad air, miasmas, airborne pathogens, beneficial thermal conditions, ideal climates and climate determinism. It uncovers inventive and entirely viable attempts to design large buildings, hospitals, theatres and academic buildings through the 19th and early 20th centuries, which use the configuration of the building itself and a shrewd understanding of the natural physics of airflow and fluid dynamics to make good, comfortable interior spaces. In exhuming these ideas and reinforcing them with contemporary scientific insight, the book proposes a recovery of the lost art and science of making naturally conditioned buildings.

This is a definitive guide to the rebound effect in home heating – the increase in energy service use after a technological intervention aimed at reducing consumption. It sets out what the effect is, how it plays out in the home heating sector, what this implies for energy saving initiatives in this sector, and how it relates to rebound effects in other sectors. The book outlines how the concept of the rebound effect has been developed and the scope of research on it, both generally and particularly in the home heating sector. Within the context of energy and CO2 emissions policy, it summarises the empirical evidence, exploring its causes and the attempts that are being made to mitigate it. Various definitions of the rebound effect are considered, in particular the idea of the effect as an energy-efficiency ‘elasticity’. The book shows how this definition can be rigorously applied to thermal retrofits, and to national consumption data, to give logically consistent rebound effect results that can be coherently compared with those of other sectors, and allow policy makers to have more confidence in the predictions about potential energy savings.

This is a definitive guide to the rebound effect in home heating – the increase in energy service use after a technological intervention aimed at reducing consumption. It sets out what the effect is, how it plays out in the home heating sector, what this implies for energy saving initiatives in this sector, and how it relates to rebound effects in other sectors. The book outlines how the concept of the rebound effect has been developed and the scope of research on it, both generally and particularly in the home heating sector. Within the context of energy and CO2 emissions policy, it summarises the empirical evidence, exploring its causes and the attempts that are being made to mitigate it. Various definitions of the rebound effect are considered, in particular the idea of the effect as an energy-efficiency ‘elasticity’. The book shows how this definition can be rigorously applied to thermal retrofits, and to national consumption data, to give logically consistent rebound effect results that can be coherently compared with those of other sectors, and allow policy makers to have more confidence in the predictions about potential energy savings.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, this new book provides thought provoking commentary on the nature of the relationship between society, the prevailing economic system and professionalism in the built environment. It addresses the changing responsibilities of professionals and in particular their obligation to act in the wider public interest. It is both an introduction to and an examination of professionalism and professional bodies in the sector, including a view of the future of professionalism and the organisations serving it. Simon Foxell outlines the history of professionalism in the sector, comparing and contrasting the development of the three major historic professions working in the construction industry: civil engineering, architecture and surveying. He examines how their systems have developed over time, up to the current period dominated by large professional services firms, and looks at some options for the future, whilst asking difficult questions about ethics, training, education, public trust and expectation from within and outside the industry. The book concludes with a six-point plan to help, if not ensure, that the professions remain an effective and essential part of both society and the economy; a part that allows the system to operate smoothly and easily, but also fairly and to the benefit of all.Essential reading for built environment professionals and students doing the professional studies elements of their training or in the process of applying for chartership or registration. The issues and lessons are applicable across all building professions.