30 Forum
INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKING Lynne Ceeney of BRE recently said (Housing November) that the building industry was similar to the early motorcar industry. For example, a study in the 1990s showed that Mercedes Benz took three times the number of hours that Toyota did to engineer and manufacture a luxury car. This was because the Japanese engineering teams worked together to achieve joint objectives and solve problems collectively. Their effective cross functional teams compare with the single discipline teams of many western manufacturers which do not talk to each other. This results in cycles of reworking and redesign that are not efficient, not quick and certainly not cost effective.
That neatly leads on to questions. For example, who is responsible for energy efficiency? Is it the architect, the mechanical and electrical engineer, the builder, the facilities manager – perhaps the home owner should call the tune? BRE cites a recent project where the architect’s design looked great but required a massive 2MW of cooling load. BRE ran a multi-disciplinary exercise that enabled the various specialists to work together. The result was a reduction to less that 200kW – a 90% saving. Yet another recent project involved the use of renewable energy technology. BRE helped a major landowner to assess the sustainability of competing housing designs. Several of the designers realised that they could earn more ‘points’ by including renewable energy facilities. However, the problem with many of them was that these had just been bolted on to houses. They were ugly and inefficient and not part of an integrated energy strategy.
Everyone is hammering home the need for interdisciplinary working and ultimately for responsibility. If the simile is how to do it in wartime (the invasion of Normandy is a fine example and that was in secret no less) then so be it. The Government’s Sustainable Buildings Task Group said, ‘Much of the opportunity to replan and redesign our communities stems from the fact that we are currently razing the spectacular failures of the 1960s building boom. We must not make the same mistakes again.’
To avoid so doing, means no
more working in narrow specialist groups. Someone needs to take responsibility for those issues that cut across the disciplines. Simply put, experience shows that if they are nobody’s responsibility, they are everybody’s problem!
Forum Questions:
Is working horizontally across disciplines actually possible, unless you are a multi- disciplinary organisation?
Will 2008 see a housing slump or a housing boom?
Do you have anything to say about this? Email:
housing@tspltd.co.uk
SUSTAINABLE HOUSES
They say that 65% of home owners are making an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. They also say that 80% would be more likely to buy a new home that was eco-friendly. What is obvious and the root of those statistics is that all 100% actually want is to reduce their heating and electricity bills – how that is achieved for the majority of people is irrelevant. Footprints in the snow are generally more worrying to the average person that their carbon footprint.
On page X, we publish a very succinct and interesting Guide to the Code for Sustainable Homes. It was launched 14 months ago and the Technical Guidance only 4 months ago. That there have been problems with the new Standard is obvious. You will see that it embraces more than just energy efficiency because it deals with everything from house construction, to the land itself and to the lifestyle. There are 9 separate categories. It is worth studying.
Forum Questions:
Can zero-carbon houses actually be achieved without examining, controlling and changing the effect which lifestyle products (such as electronics, televisions, white goods etc) have on the calculations?
Who is actually responsible for energy efficiency?
Do you have anything to say about this? Email:
housing@tspltd.co.uk
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