Without a well-designed building, the DfMA approach will be applied to an inefficient design, diluting its benefits or even introducing costs and complexity..
That way, people can dress according to how warm they feel, which will make them more comfortable, and more productive as a result.. What can building occupiers do for both the environment and energy efficiency?.Our dynamic thermal simulation enables a data-driven approach which we can use to predict internal temperatures, air flow and occupant comfort in existing offices.
It allows us to model scenarios so that building operators can effectively predict threats to occupant comfort.We can test rectification measures in a simulated environment and understand how they will affect energy bills – before choosing the most appropriate option.. A moment to act.Once you have planned how to meet the challenges of thermal comfort, now is also the time to do a full MOT of your ventilation, heating and cooling plant.
Cleaning out the filters, checking the pump pressure and tweaking the control systems are all examples of simple fixes that will help plant to run more efficiently and reduce energy bills.CIBSE provides recommendations on how to maintain ventilation plant safely, given the viral risk.. Over time, we adjust the ventilation in a building to suit the partitioning of spaces and changes to how the building is occupied.
Now is a great time to check the commissioning of your systems to make sure there is a good spread of ventilation across each room.. It’s important to pay particular attention to toilets, and transient spaces such as stair cores.
With social distancing, a 20-person lift is now only able to carry one person, so staircases are going to become much busier.In all cases, a lab design should be developed as soon as possible, with material and personnel flows and relevant zonings mapped out across all lab and common areas to identify any potential issues.. 8.
Existing office buildings may struggle to accommodate more onerous laboratory fire and egress requirements.. A lab will most likely contain more flammable or hazardous materials and sources of ignition than an office.In most cases this can be addressed with special storage cabinets, fume cabinets, and good housekeeping.
However, where larger quantities or more dangerous materials are used (e.g.oxygen, or even inert materials like liquid nitrogen) this can be particularly challenging.