BUILDING PERFORMANCE | DATA-DRIVEN DESIGN Annual outdoor temperature profile Winter Tick over Summer 4,500 700 4,000 600 3,500 Number of hours 500 3,000 400 2,500 300 2,000 1,500 200 1000 100 500 0 0 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Outdooor air temperature (C) Coincident heating and cooling operation Diversified cooling demand Non-diversified cooling load Actual heating demand Steady state heat loss Annual heating and cooling profile of loads for a large London office development of inputs that will give the best performing, or fittest, solutions. This reduced the time needed to identify these solutions by 88%, enabling Ramboll and BAS to interrogate quickly the options most suited to the needs of their organisation. Coupled with more efficient buildings and energy re-use, the end result offers a solution that will reduce energy consumption significantly in the first phase of the modernisation project. Uninterruptible Power Interpreted FREE CPD accredited webinar Available now on demand WAT C H N O W Brought to you by: CIBSE JOURNAL bit.ly/cibsewebinars Lean design is essential on British Antartic Survey buildings Overdesigning building structures The challenge of overdesign holds true for the structure, too. Ramboll is involved in an initiative, led by the University of Cambridge, that seeks to improve material efficiency across the construction industry. Research carried out as part of this work has demonstrated that weare using design loading in offices that may be more than double the loading the building will ever experience in its lifetime. If you look at the current office space being constructed in London, we estimate that by challenging just the design loading alone 10,000-15,000 tonnes of embodied CO2 could be saved. In addition, around 15m-20m could be saved on construction costs through reduced slab thicknesses, column sizes and foundations. Add to this the time and workforce benefits, and we can see the huge potential of improved building structures. This is where data and digital tools can help transform the industry. Ramboll is inventing its own digital tools, which we are piloting with a number of developers. One such tool is SiteSolve, which enables our clients tovary the development brief rapidly and review the impact of their assumptions. With the power to look at hundreds of options in the time it would take to look at just one traditionally, the tool uses engineering insight to bring data to the forefront of the design process. This allows us to evaluate and refine solutions while balancing many complex technical criteria. By embracing data-driven design, the construction industry can reduce capital expenditure, save carbon, reduce energy consumption, and deliver more healthy and sustainable buildings. The sector is facing pressure from climate change, resource efficiency, digitalisation, economic difficulty andindustry productivity but we have the tools, theknow-how and, more importantly, the data to meet this challenge. We can turn design on its head and enjoy the fruits of more economical, sustainable, safe, comfortable and compliant buildings. So why wait to change? CJ ANDREW HENDERSON is executive director, UK buildings, atRamboll 36 June 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jun19 pp34-36 Ramboll.indd 36 24/05/2019 19:01