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feature
roofing, cladding, insulation & structural systems
how cladding can play a key role in passive cooling
For decades, architects in the UK have designed buildings to keep people warm. However, increasingly, the challenge is now keeping them cool. Lisa Grosse, Product and Marketing Lead for Cedral UK and Ireland talks to ABC&D...
It has become increasingly clear that overheating is no longer an occasional inconvenience but one of the defining design challenges facing British architecture. As temperatures continue to rise, architects are being asked to create buildings that consume less energy while remaining comfortable throughout increasingly extreme weather. Much of Britain’s housing stock simply wasn’t designed for this climate. Nearly 40% of UK homes were built before 1946, with millions of Victorian and Edwardian properties constructed using solid brick walls that were intended to retain heat through long winters. While their thermal mass provides benefits during colder months, it can become a disadvantage during prolonged periods of hot weather.
Brickwork absorbs large quantities of solar energy throughout the day, before slowly releasing that stored heat overnight. Even after outside temperatures fall, internal spaces remain uncomfortably warm well into the early hours, making natural night-time cooling increasingly difficult. More recent housing developments – notably high-rise developments and student accommodation – face their own challenges. Larger areas of glazing, highly airtight construction and lightweight building systems can all contribute to overheating unless solar control and ventilation have been carefully considered. Overheating is becoming a compliance issue rather than simply a comfort issue and the facade has become one of the
most important environmental systems of a building. Material selection matters for climate control While most building materials are designed to withstand some degree of expansion and contraction, excessive heat can push these materials beyond their limit. How do we create building envelopes that perform intelligently throughout the entire year? Traditional timber facades may expand, warp or require increased maintenance. Dark masonry surfaces can absorb significant levels of solar radiation. Fibre cement offers a particularly
robust alternative. Resistant to moisture, rot and insect attack, and requiring minimal maintenance, fibre cement has been developed to withstand repeated
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