Tom Dollard - Designed to Perform: An Illustrated Guide to Delivering Energy Efficient Homes

An Illustrated Guide to Delivering Energy Efficient Homes

Second Edition

TomDollard

The cover of Designed to Perform 2nd edition is printed on PaperWise Natural 200gsm. PaperWise is a high-quality product made from agricultural waste. Waste fibres from agri-food production make it possible to reduce cutting trees.

RIBA Publishing, 2023

Published by RIBA Publishing, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD

ISBN 978 1 91412 426 6

The right of Tom Dollard to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 sections 77 and 78.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Commissioning Editor: Alex White
Production: Richard Blackburn
Designed by Michle Woodger
Typeset by Academic + Technical, Bristol
Printed and bound by Page Bros, Norwich
Cover design by Nikos Georgopoulos

While every effort has been made to check the accuracy and quality of the information given in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher accept any responsibility for the subsequent use of this information, for any errors or omissions that it may contain, or for any misunderstandings arising from it.

www.ribapublishing.com

DOI: 10.4324/9781003344100

Second Edition

An Illustrated Guide to Delivering Energy
Efficient Homes

RIBA Publishing

Tom Dollard

Many people have contributed to this book. I'm grateful to the following for their input and funding of research at early stages; Innovate UK, the Zero Carbon Hub and the Good Homes Alliance. A special mention to Rob Pannell and Tessa Hurtswyn who decided to fund and support my idea for a builders' book of details, which was published by the , and was a forerunner for this book. Thanks to my colleagues at Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE), who helped to produce graphics and details as well as providing valuable advice along the way: Roger Holdsworth, Patrick Devlin, Charina Coronado, Craig Renton, Ricky Doyle, Matt McColl, Rejash Bhela, Stefanie Bewers, Tim Metcalfe, Becca Troy, Grecia Castillo, Filipa Oliveira, Nelton Barbosa. Many thanks to my colleague Nikos Georgopoulos, who designed the front cover of the 2nd edition. A special mention must go to my colleague Joseba Perez de Larraya, fellow architect and Passivhaus designer, who has lead on the detailing and technical input for much of the 2nd Edition. Our "Knowledge Hub" and sustainability team at PTE has been a wonderful sounding board for many other ideas and graphics, some of which made it into the book, and some will make it into future publications. Pollard Thomas Edwards has provided generous financial and technical support of my research activities in the last 10 years, with colleagues providing inspiration, technical and graphical input which has greatly enriched the content of the book.

Huge thanks must go to Eight Associates, Sustainability consultants that we have collaborated with on this and other projects, especially Chris Hocknell and Yiota Paraskeva, who spent hours producing psi-value calculations for all the construction types.

Thanks to those who provided construction sites for me to visit and detail drawings/ specifications to use: Parsons and Whittley, DCH Construction, Feys Construction, Alex Baines, Kirk Archibald and Gary Nicholls. Thanks to those who provided images, constructions sites and advice for the second edition: Chayley Collins, James Turner and Henry Wootton from Mikhail Riches, Andrew Turnbull, Sue Dewhirst, William Stanwix, Rowland Keable, Joseph Daniels, Matthew Barnett, George Mikurcik, David White, Phillip Terry and Shaun Hurworth. Thanks to the readers and advisors for the first and second editions: Sofie Pelsmakers, Brian Murphy, Brian Edwards, Tessa Hurstwyn and Lynne Sullivan.

Thanks to those at RIBA Publishing who have been so patient during the publication process of the 2nd edition, particularly Alexander White and Richard Blackburn for the 2nd edition, and Daniel Culver, Michle Woodger and Phil Handley for the 1st edition.

Finally, thanks to my family; my parents for generously supporting my long architectural education, my wife Fleur, for being so patient and supportive whilst writing this book, and our children, for reminding me constantly of the needs of future generations.

All author royalties are used for further research and development into improving sustainable design within architectural practice. This book is printed and bound in the UK on 100% FSC paper.

Tom Dollard BArch DipArch ARB RIBA

Tom is an Architect and Partner at Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE). He leads on Sustainability and Innovation throughout the practice. Tom guides PTE's ever-evolving zero carbon culture providing project teams with training, support and inspiration whilst delivering some of the UK's most sustainable housing projects. He is focused on practical, implementable solutions that ensure a building's in-use energy performance matches the design intent. Tom is a Director of the Good Homes Alliance, and a member of the CIBSE homes for the future group. He is an experienced Passivhaus Designer and BREEAM Accredited Professional. His research and publications for the Zero Carbon Hub (2012-2016) and for the UK Government (Building for 2050, 2017-2022) has set out the required steps to accelerate the uptake of low cost, low carbon homes.

Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE)

Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE) is an architecture practice specialising in the design of homes, neighbourhoods, public and mixed-use buildings.

Each year PTE's multi-disciplinary team designs and delivers 1,000-plus homes, with research playing an essential role. PTE uses practical experience to generate and develop research topics, which inform how it designs and delivers future built environment projects.

PTE's research plays a key role in shaping the architectural profession's outlook on a variety of topics, from estate regeneration, post-occupancy evaluation, local solutions to the housing crisis and the densification of the suburbs. Current collaborations with universities cover research programmes on the delivery of low carbon housing, building performance evaluation, the social value toolkit for architecture. Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and digital automation tools.

Recent publications include the Zero Carbon Hub Builders' Book (2014), Services Guide (2016), Superdensity: The Sequel (2020), The Deck Access Housing Design Guide (Routledge, 2022), Altered Estates 2 (2022) and Towards Net Zero (2022).

Designing for performance is not new. Built environment professionals have long battled to achieve their designs in reality. The idea of the 'performance gap' came onto my radar in 2010, at a Good Homes Alliance event. It was quickly becoming a real issue for an industry that was gearing up to achieve zero-carbon homes. It resonated with me at the time because I was working as project architect on a Code for Sustainable Homes level 4 housing scheme that was hailed as 'industry leading', yet probably had a significant performance gap that we could do very little about. I felt disillusioned with the status quo of delivering the minimum required performance, for a minimum price which ultimately led to 'value engineering' or, more accurately, cost-cutting. The disaster at Grenfell Tower is the result of this cost- and quality-cutting process, an epidemic across our industry and culture where cost is king. If we are to rectify this situation, a radical rethink of procurement processes, enforcement of the regulations and attention to quality is needed. I hope this book goes a small way to improving the quality of design thinking and helps architects, clients and contractors in the challenge to deliver energy efficient homes.