The physical and social aspects of retrofitting passive cooling strategies to timber school buildings and their surrounds in South East Queensland

Overheating is a problem in existing timber classroom buildings in South East Queensland. In a case study school passive cooling strategies were retrofitted to six classroom buildings and their immediate surrounds between 2012 to 2014: stack ventilation, cool roof, shade sails over courtyards and schoolyard greening. This research project investigates how effective the strategies are in reducing heat inside the classroom by analysing quantitative data (classroom temperature) and qualitative data (perceptions of Teachers and Principal). This paper reports how the research project began and the results of applying an overheating analysis metric to the classroom temperature across summer terms, with inconclusive results. Uncontrolled variables such as climatic factors and building use are discussed. Another strategy being investigated is the range of adaptive actions Teachers engage in to reduce thermal discomfort from heat. The Teacher is regarded as the main occupant with control of the classroom environment. Understanding the current range of adaptive actions teachers engage in, especially in naturally ventilated classrooms, could provide an understanding of low energy social practices in the school. This research aims to synthesize quantitative data with qualitative data to assess the effectiveness of the passive cooling strategies and create informed recommendations to increase adaptive actions within classrooms towards a low-carbon occupation of existing classrooms