Transparent sustainability: WELL standard & Energy Cost Metric

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• Tom Spurrier, Hoare Lea; Joel Gustafsson, Max Fordham
• Wednesday 28 June 2017, 17:45-20:00
• Max Fordham, St Andrew's House, 59 St Andrew's Street, CB2 3BZ, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Aleksandra Przydrozna.

Talk 1: WELL Buildings – Putting People First (Tom Spurrier, Hoare Lea)

The Health and Wellbeing of building occupants is gaining increased focus, with design approaches increasingly concentrating on the end user experience. The WELL standard provides a certified framework for the assessment of health and wellbeing measures within the built environment. This session will provide an introduction to the WELL standard, and explore some of the related design challenges, responses, tensions and opportunities.

Talk 2: The Energy Cost Metric – Applying Academic Ideas in Practice (Joel Gustafsson, Max Fordham) In 2015 we worked with the late Professor David Mackay (former chief scientific advisor to DECC and author of “Sustainable Energy without the hot air”) to address the way in which ‘low energy’ was defined and targeted for the relocation of the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge. The aims were simple: a) embed lifetime energy into the brief; b) provide a readily accessible tool to allow comparison between traditionally separate areas of the design; c) deliver buildings that are well considered and have a quantifiable low lifetime energy. The result is a refreshingly simple equation – ‘The Energy Cost Metric’. In its application to the first building of the masterplan it has enabled strategic decisions to be made in a pragmatic, well informed manner. Seemingly different aspects of lifetime energy, e.g. in-use energy and material transport have been assessed against the same quantifiable question. How cost-effective is the lifetime energy saving?

This presentation describes what the metric is, how it is has been developed from its academic origin, some key examples of its application in design and how it applies to the construction stage. Particular attention was given to the interface between the façade and HVAC systems, this decision relied heavily on the outputs of the metric. The focus will be on the practical aspects rather than the theoretical basis. This aspect is not without its complexity and required extensive collaboration between the engineering academics and the project team. Of particular interest will be the necessary use of estimates and assumptions, the role of subjective factors and the risks of pursuing a design driven solely by this metric. The experience is being used to assess the viability of expansion to wider Cambridge Estates projects and it is hoped that the presentation will generate wider interest in this useful and simple tool.

To register please follow this link: https://cibseyepg-cbncambridge-3-transparentsustainability.eventbrite.co.uk

This talk is part of the CIBSE YEPG Carbon Bite Nights: Cambridge Edition series.

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• Max Fordham, St Andrew's House, 59 St Andrew's Street, CB2 3BZ, Cambridge

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