Impact of standard construction specification on thermal comfort in UK dwellings

Abstract. The quest for enhanced thermal comfort for dwellings encompasses the holistic utilization of\ud improved building fabric, impact of weather variation and amongst passive cooling design consideration the\ud provision of appropriate ventilation and shading strategy. Whilst thermal comfort is prime to dwellings\ud considerations, limited research has been done in this area with the attention focused mostly on\ud non-dwellings. This paper examines the current and future thermal comfort implications of four different\ud standard construction specifications which show a progressive increase in thermal mass and airtightness and\ud is underpinned by the newly developed CIBSE adaptive thermal comfort method for assessing the risk of\ud overheating in naturally ventilated dwellings. Interactive investigation on the impact of building fabric\ud variation, natural ventilation scenarios, external shading and varying occupants’ characteristics to analyse\ud dwellings thermal comfort based on non-heating season of current and future weather patterns of London\ud and Birmingham is conducted. The overheating analysis focus on the whole building and individual zones.\ud The findings from the thermal analysis simulation are illustrated graphically coupled with statistical analysis\ud of data collected from the simulation. The results indicate that, judicious integrated approach of improved\ud design options could substantially reduce the operating temperatures in dwellings and enhance thermal\ud comfort.\ud Keywords