EDITORIAL
On a mission to probe buildings
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Editorial advisory panel George Adams, engineering director, Spie Matthew Hall Laurence Aston, director, Buro Happold
Annabel Clasby, mechanical building services engineer, Atkins
Patrick Conaghan, partner, Hoare Lea Consulting Engineers Rowan Crowley, director, einside track James Fisher, e3 consultant, FläktWoods David Hughes, consultant Philip King, director, Hilson Moran
Chani Leahong, senior associate, Fulcrum Consulting Nick Mead, group technical director, Imtech Technical Services
Christopher Pountney, graduate engineer, AECOM
James Rene, engineer/acoustician, Max Fordham Alan Tulla, independent lighting consultant Ged Tyrrell, managing director, Tyrrell Systems Ant Wilson, director, AECOM Terry Wyatt, consultant to Hoare Lea
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R
emember PROBE? No, not the problematic British space mission to Mars but the important CIBSE-backed work undertaken in the 1990s to evaluate the performance of
buildings. The aim was to find out what really makes certain types of building tick when it comes to cutting energy use. These case studies, published in the forerunner to CIBSE Journal,
We need more PROBE-type studies to learn why non- domestic properties are performing well, or failing to do so
pointed the way to a future where the industry could bridge the gap between low-energy design intentions and performance outcomes. So where are we now? Well, we’re in the midst of taking some important steps towards improving building performance. The latest proposed revisions to the Building Regulations next year, contained in a series of consultation documents (see our News pages 6 and 10), take on board a lot of the lessons learnt and promoted by leading building sector professionals in the past decade. The Part L document also gives PROBE a name check. The proposals are also highly pragmatic: they
reflect the view of the housebuilders themselves, a view eloquently expressed in this issue by the boss of Barratt Developments, Mark Clare (page 22). Put simply, the government’s 2016 target for all new homes to be ‘zero carbon’ won’t be
achievable unless these homes are both affordable and workable from the user’s perspective and their day-to-day experiences. Hence, in the Part L consultation document it is made clear that ministers’ ‘preferred option’ is for the further reduction in emissions for new homes to be 8% (the industry consensus had been for a 25% cut). As Mark Clare rightly stresses, these new green homes can only have the low-energy outcomes we desire if the end-users are willing and able to operate them in a low carbon way, day in, day out. Of course, saving energy in Britain’s building stock is not just about
new homes. We also need lots more PROBE-type studies to learn why non-domestic properties are performing well, or failing to do so. One key reason for doing this is well illustrated in our Building
Performance Special in this issue (page 30): studying even well- performing buildings offers key lessons not just for that site but for the wider sector. So we need more British PROBES – not the
expensive follies of the space programme but the, in many ways, much more down-to-earth kind that offer proven outcomes for the built environment.
Bob Cervi, Editor
bcervi@cibsejournal.com
www.cibsejournal.com
March 2012 CIBSE Journal
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