In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the impact of air and housing quality on the health of children. In 2022, the tragic death of a child was attributed to damp and mould, leading to the landlord being held accountable. As a result, there are plans to strengthen social housing regulations in the near future.
Are solid fuel burners appropriate in a modern new build home? Can they be incorporated into an eco home without ruining it's green credentials?
Burning solid fuels like wood or briquettes is an attractive option for a living room but tends to generate particulate air pollution and over-produce heat. Here we discuss those drawbacks, solutions like automation and back boilers, and the regulatory requirements that inform the design of a given installation.
In this article we look at the impact of psi-values and why they matter. Psi-values are a measure of the heat loss of a junction between two fabric elements, eg floor and external wall. These junctions are called non-repeating thermal bridges.
Previous iterations of the UK Building Regulations have raised awareness of the importance of fabric u-values and air tightness, the incoming revision is set to sharpen the focus on the ‘non-repeating’ or ‘linear’ thermal bridges that occur at junctions between fabric elements. The easy option of using Accredited Construction Details (ACD) will disappear from SAP as a new version is introduced next summer. This will force developers to more strongly consider junctions when choosing their building fabric or to have the heat loss properties of their junctions evaluated by trained specialists in order to avoid having to assume worst-case default heat losses.
There are many innovations transforming building services driven mainly by the huge challenge of achieving Net Zero targets. In a series of articles, we look at these innovations specifically where they are appropriate for apartment blocks.