ACR Journal

February | March 2021 On July 25 2019 the UK experienced its hottest day on record, peaking at 38.1˚C in Cambridge. Just a day before, CIBSE held a seminar in London, entitled Avoiding overheating, during which Head of Research Anastasia Mylona and Technical Manager Julie Godefroy discussed revisions to Approved Documents F and L, as well as the causes and risks of overheating buildings. Although many people may have enjoyed the hot weather, dehydration, breathing di’culties, heat exhaustion and heatstroke are just some of the dangers that can put people’s lives at risk during periods of extremely high temperatures. Poorly installed, maintained and controlled HVAC equipment, as well as inadequate natural ventilation can drastically increase the chances of a building overheating, which can result in serious health concerns for the building’s occupants. The importance of ensuring CHILLED BEAMS 22 Andrew Gaskell, Chairman of the Chilled Beams and Ceilings Association, suggests we follow Australia’s lead when it comes to integrating HVAC systems into the design stage of buildings to improve energy efficiency. a healthy indoor environment while remaining compliant with modern energy e’ciency demands is an ongoing challenge for building managers. Commercial buildings typically undergo many changes over the course of their lives. Tenants will come and go and every new occupant will have their own ideas on setup and working environment. The building owner or operator will need an HVAC system that can o—er long term flexibility on top of long term energy savings. However, the way we approach building design in the UK makes it di’cult to achieve optimum energy e’ciency during a building’s lifetime – as our Building Regulations focus primarily on the design and technology that improves predicted building performance for purely compliance assessment, instead of achieving directly measureable improvements in performance in-use. Volume 7 No.2 Some Aussie rules worth following... An important part of chilled beam technology is efficiency that can help building operators to reduce energy bills