CIBSE NEWS
Tel: 020 8675 5211 | Fax: 020 8675 5449 | Email:
secretary@cibse.org President: Andy Ford CEng FCIBSE BSc Eng | Chief executive: Stephen Matthews
Last call for Part L input
A consultation looking at whether consequential improvements should be introduced when a home is extended, a loft or garage converted, or windows or boilers replaced, closed on 27 March. The CIBSE response is on the Consultations section of the website, at
www.cibse.org However, the consultation on
the other proposed changes to the Building Regulations are still open, with a deadline of 23 April for CIBSE to respond. There are proposals to
require new, non-domestic buildings to be designed to a 20% more stringent carbon emissions target, with an 8% tightening for new homes. There are also proposals relating to self certification of building works, and for the creation of ‘appointed persons’ to oversee works covered by the Building Regulations. The consultation documents can be found at
www.cibse.org/partL Contributions from members
to the CIBSE response are welcome, and should be sent to
technical@CIBSE.org A half-day workshop to
explain the proposed changes will also be held in Birmingham on 11 April. Further details, including a full agenda for the workshop, can be found at
www.cibse.org We look forward to hearing
from you about the proposals, or seeing you at the workshop.
AGM planned for 10 May
The 2012 CIBSE annual general meeting will be held on 10May 2012 at Imperial College London in the Skempton Building. It will be followed by incoming president David Fisk’s presidential address. The calling notice, which contains further details, will be circulated shortly.
New Institute for LEV engineers created
l New voice for local exhaust ventilation
A fourth specialist division representing exhaust ventilation engineers has been created within CIBSE.
The Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers (ILEVE) has more than 120 registered members, but it hopes to increase this to 250. It was formed to significantly reduce deaths and ill health caused by poor air quality in the workplace. On 24 January ILEVE held an information day, attended by more than 100 delegates, to review progress in its development, state its objectives, explain the benefits of membership and provide a forum for members and other interested parties to discuss future proposals for the Institute. The day began with Bud Hudspith, health and safety adviser for the Unite Union, explaining how important the work of ILEVE will be in creating healthy working conditions. Organisations such as Unite and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have worked hard to explain and promote the need for local exhaust ventilation (LEV), but there
are still instances to be found where people work in unsatisfactory conditions. Wally Gilder, chairman of the ILEVE steering committee, summarised the beginnings of ILEVE and how it became a division within CIBSE. He explained how it evolved from an initial idea voiced at a presentation to the industry – gaining strong support from the HSE, which recognised that serious problems existed – to becoming a representative voice with firm plans to develop a professionally-led institute. Dean Greer, chairman of the membership and grading subcommittee, explained how the grading structure already used by CIBSE is to be adopted. All registrants have initially been made affiliate members. A detailed application form to identify qualifications and experience has been produced to allow a ‘grandfather’ route to other grades, while each application will be individually assessed by the steering committee and given the appropriate grade. This route will only be open for a limited period (to December 2012).
In parallel with this, there will be a route via training and an examination for members to
Project calls for member input
The Urban Climate Project – part of an engineering doctorate sponsored by CIBSE at University College London (UCL) – is calling for input and contributions from members.
The project, which is being spearheaded by the UCL’s Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisations Centre, will produce design guidance and knowledge resources for CIBSE members on the effect of building design in urban areas; increasing urbanisation and projected climate change will exacerbate climatic effects on buildings.
Previous guides by the Institution have provided a useful treatment of urban heat island effects, but this needs to be updated and expanded to include a wider
14 CIBSE Journal April 2012
range of microclimatic effects. The research will analyse how land-use changes in urban environments can have an impact on the surrounding climate, and show the effect that microclimates can have on the performance of buildings. The resulting guidance could include how changing a building’s physical characteristics could impact the local climate, as well as the effect of microclimates on performance criteria, such as energy use, sizing and thermal comfort, leading to design strategies that create more comfortable, passive and sustainable design.
The above research will feed into the revision of CIBSE Guide A, as well as other current and future resources published by the Institution. The effectiveness of
the guidance will depend on its applicability to industry practices. The following questions need to be answered in order to achieve this: lAre urban environmental effects currently considered in a planning or design process? If so, how are they treated? What are the current industry drivers?
lHow useful is current CIBSE guidance on urban environmental effects? How could it be improved? and
lWhat would CIBSE members need in terms of practical tools and guidance on the treatment of urban environments when designing buildings?
To find out more about this research project and to get involved, please contact Dane Virk on
dvirk@cibse.org
www.cibsejournal.com
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