A review by Alain Speed from PDP London architects

I enrolled on the WUFI course with some trepidation. I regarded it as a privilege to have been sponsored by my employer, PDP London, and was determined to get to grips with the programme. WUFI’s reputation and that of the presenters loomed large. Gaining an understanding of the science behind building pathology (relating to harmful moisture) would allow me to make informed judgments when faced with the plethora of information out there about...

Nick Lloyd | Urbane Eco

The most important thing to bear in mind when installing IWI is, in my view, to consider the large quantity of water vapour generated by building occupants, and what happens to it. A family of four will produce anything from ten to twenty litres of water in 24 hours; two litres while sleeping, a couple of litres bathing and showering, four litres cooking, a litre...

Cath Hassell | ech2o 

The 1999 Water Regulations (2000 Water Byelaws in Scotland) state that ‘all WC flushing cisterns should be provided with a connection for a warning pipe, the outlet of which is to discharge in a prominent position’ and that ‘an internal overflow discharging into the WC pan shall be deemed to meet the requirements of the Regulations’.

Before 1999 any overflow from a toilet had to terminate in an obvious place and internal overflows were very much ...

Piers Sadler | Piers Sadler Consulting 

The risks associated with retrofitting solid wall insulation are well known amongst ‘green’ building professionals and practitioners. These risks include risks to built heritage, interstitial condensation, poor indoor air quality, mould and under-performance of the insulation.

Concern about roof retrofit is much less prominent and the guidance usually assumes simple situations, rather than the often complex reality. The risks are...

Jillian Mitchell | Project Logistics

At the recent celebrations of TGR’s 15th birthday, I enjoyed a trip round the Bristol Aquarium, in the company of two colleagues. The contrast in their reaction to the displays amused me somewhat, with one identifying exotic species and relishing big fish in even bigger tanks, and the other declaring he had eaten or cooked most of the exhibits, within the past month!

For me, being able to see flashes of brilliant colour and admire beautiful,...

Leigh J Caller | Kendall Kingscott

Cath Hassell | ech2o 

Water softeners

Anyone who lives in a hard water area in the UK (60% of homes) will be familiar with scale in kettles, on taps and shower screens, a lack of lather from soap, washing powder, etc, scum around baths and scratchy towels. While visible scale is unsightly and hard water is detergent hungry, the real issue is the deleterious effect that scale deposits have on heating systems by reducing the rate of heat transfer. This effect is not immediately...

Tom Dollard | Head of Sustainable Design Pollard Thomas Edwards

The latest instalment in the Zero Carbon Homes saga is rather shocking. Unlike previous chapters which have seen an almost understandable watering down of the policy, this time the Conservatives have let rip their true blue colours! George Osborne has completely given up pretending that the Tories care for environmental policy, and has lead a U-turn on policy that had achieved cross industry...

Lucy Pedler | Director | The Green Register

At the end of last year, I made a comment in one of my TGR blogs about the demise of the Code for Sustainable Homes stating: ‘For seven years, we have had a nationally recognised, holistic standard for measuring the sustainability of new buildings and in my humble opinion, abolishing the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) earlier this year has been a big...

Cora Kwiatkowski | Senior Associate | Stride Treglown

The reuse and refurbishment of existing buildings with their embodied carbon is intrinsically sustainable, provided that they can operate effectively and efficiently and that they are located in a sustainable location. But are all buildings really suitable for refurbishment and how can a balance between sustainability and return be struck?

Given that we are just climbing our way out of recession, investment still mainly concentrates on the...