MMC 5542 48 Feb '16 cc

“A big thing for us at the minute when
designing windows is ventilation and the
positive and necessary impact it has on the
overall picture. So often the importance and
the effect of ventilation is underestimated; it
is increasingly important”.
Mike Stevenson
“The same is true of glass specification and
balancing the desire for large apertures with
proper measures to counter solar gain (as
well as u-value and acoustics). Indeed, this is
one of the issues raised in the Zero Carbon
Hub report”.
“The bottom line is that as with most things
in life, prevention is better than cure, and
working together with design teams is the
surest way to ensure that the problem of
over-heating does not occur in the first
place”.
“It is a really valid point that Mike makes in
terms of design team involvement and a
proper assessment of the properties of
products which are specified for use
together” concludes Rob.
“It is incredibly important that those who are
building homes, commercial bed space and in
fact any building for occupation have a
proper process in place to assess the
impact of the products they
choose and the potential for
them to cause over-heating
in buildings”.
“When we carried out the
survey there were close to
40% of those who responded
who did not have any process
in place to assess the potential
for over-heating, while many of
the others relied on the
experience of their staff to
make a judgement rather than having a
formal process”.
“Over-heating in homes is a real issue; it
won’t go away by chance; it needs proper
processes to ensure that it is designed out
before the build process takes place”.
The full report along with other key
documents from the Zero Carbon Hub can be
downloaded from the Fabric First Academy
website www.fabricfirstacademy.co.uk
More information on Sidey in the offsite
market is available from www.kitfix.co.uk
Zero Carbon Hub www.zerocarbonhub.org
MMC February 2016 29