Malcolm Cook

To assess risk factors for COVID-19 transmission and address the closure of mass gathering events since March 2020, the UK Government ran the Events Research Programme (ERP), following which it reopened live events in sports, music, and culture in July 2021. We report the rapid post-occupancy evaluation of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and associated long-range airborne transmission risk conducted in the Environmental Study of the ERP. Ten large venues around the UK were monitored with CO ₂ sensors at a high spatial and temporal resolution during 90 events. An IAQ Index based on CO ₂ concentration was developed, and all monitored spaces were classified in bands from A to G based on their average and maximum CO ₂ concentrations from all events. High resolution monitoring and the IAQ Index depicted the overall state of ventilation at live events, and allowed identification of issues with ventilation effectiveness and distribution, and of spaces with poor ventilation and the settings in which long-range airborne transmission risk may be increased. In numerous settings, CO ₂ concentrations were found to follow patterns relating to event management and specific occupancy of spaces around the venues. Good ventilation was observed in 90% of spaces monitored for given occupancies. Practical applications: High-resolution monitoring of indoor CO ₂ concentrations is necessary to detect the spatial variation of indoor air quality (IAQ) in large mass gathering event venues. The paper summarises COVID-19 ventilation guidance for buildings and defines a methodology for measurement and rapid assessment of IAQ during occupancy at live events that can be implemented by venue managers. Comparisons of the CO ₂ concentrations measured during the events identified the spaces at high risk of long-range transmission of airborne pathogens. Building operators should be mindful of the ventilation strategies used relative to the total occupancy in different spaces and the occupant’s activities.

In view of the ageing domestic building stock and increasing reliance on fossil fuels for cooling and ventilation of buildings, there is an urgent need for improved design knowledge and sustainable measures such as natural ventilation and passive cooling to mitigate climate change and future proof the built environment. This paper forms an appraisal of a range of low-energy refurbishment measures, i.e. building design alterations and passive systems, which were employed and evaluated in an apartment building in Greece. The applicability of these in domestic buildings in hot climates is assessed and their design implications evaluated. Implementation of wind-catchers, dynamic façades, and evaporative cooling had the highest ventilation and cooling potential, while improvements of the interior layout to allow for new airflow paths could provide further cooling to spaces and solutions to safety.

The retrofitting strategies in European school buildings are usually focused on reducing the heating demand since it represents the major energy consumption. Nevertheless, the rise in outdoor temperatures shows that the risk of overheating during the summer is increasing. When planning such processes, decision-makers need to take into account the different building typologies, the effect of the potential measures in the future conditions and their costs. This study integrates these factors and provides specific guidance on the most appropriate measures to improve indoor thermal comfort in classrooms in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. The simulations suggested that current overheating of the studied buildings represents up to 27% of the occupied time. The heavyweight buildings could prevent overheating by means of good ventilation, while lightweight buildings require more sun protection. With the appropriate natural ventilation strategy and with the help of ceiling fans, overheating can be avoided in most of the building types in the near future. In the case of lightweight buildings, overheating can be reduced to less than 10% of discomfort during occupied time; however, it would be required to significantly reduce the solar gains through technologies such as electrochromic glazing or a combination of other passive measures.

(2019). What Makes an Excellent Journal Paper? Science and Technology for the Built Environment: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 113-113.

(2018). Low energy cooling and ventilation in indian residences. Science and Technology for the Built Environment: Vol. 24, No. 8, pp. 819-819.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the use of historical building performance data to identify potential issues with the build quality and operation of a building, as a means of narrowing the scope of in-depth further review. Design/methodology/approach: The response of a room to the difference between internal and external temperatures is used to demonstrate patterns in thermal response across monitored rooms in a single building, to clearly show where rooms are under-performing in terms of their ability to retain heat during unconditioned hours. This procedure is applied to three buildings of different types, identifying the scope and limitation of this method and indicating areas of building performance deficiency. Findings: The response of a single space to changing internal and external temperatures can be used to determine whether it responds differently to other monitored buildings. Spaces where thermal bridging and changes in use from design were encountered exhibit noticeably different responses. Research limitations/implications: Application of this methodology is limited to buildings where temperature monitoring is undertaken both internally for a variety of spaces, and externally, and where knowledge of the uses of monitored spaces is available. Naturally ventilated buildings would be more suitable for analysis using this method. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the understanding of building energy performance from a data-driven perspective, to the knowledge on the disparity between building design intent and reality, and to the use of basic commonly recorded performance metrics for analysis of potentially detrimental building performance issues.