QuinnRoss Energy - Energy & Sustainability Consultants

Whenever you start a new project, it is important to ensure overheating is not an issue, especially during the hot summer months. In recent times the risk of overheating in buildings has become more frequent, as changing climates and global warming make controlling the required indoor temperature ever more problematic.

Overheating in residential dwellings is becoming a significant issue and is now a requirement of the London Plan and recommended for all major developments by the Greater London Authority (GLA). This is why your development may require overheating analysis to be carried out as part of an Energy Statement to satisfy local development plans.

This is to provide a good level of thermal comfort as well as limit the need for additional cooling where required. High temperatures in buildings on the very bottom line is not a comfortable environment to live or work, you can avoid this by completing an overheating simulation.

Our experienced team have completed many CIBSE TM52, TM59 and Hea04 assessments, therefore have a wealth of possible solutions to draw on for your project.

In designing your project to eliminate overheating risk, we would use thermal modelling techniques that take into consideration schedules, equipment, people and solar. All of our overheating analysis is carried out on dynamic simulation software which can analyse the occupied spaces and assess performance against criteria set by CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers). This allows us to model the building in full detail before construction to determine overheating levels and to remedy any issues found with design or fabric changes.

This has resulted in several standards to help assess building performance and define acceptable temperature thresholds. CIBSE has produced guidance in the form of TM52, TM59 and Guide A, these guidelines set out the criteria to ensure that overheating within a building is not present.

An overheating assessment is not just a box ticking exercise, you can save considerable amounts of money by using passive cooling techniques. Hence by reducing their cooling plant sizes and annual cooling energy costs. Overheating analysis may be required to design around non-compliance overheating issues, as part of planning permission or as part of an energy statement.

The different guidance covers commercial and residential and if the building is cooled, naturally ventilated and mechanically ventilated to be certain the correct criteria is set for the building type and design.

What can cause overheating in buildings?

Rising temperatures
Airtight construction
Building location and geometry
Building fabric
Levels of glazing
Increased occupant densities

We have produced overheating analysis for a huge variety of projects and would be more than happy to assist you with your requirements, by using our enhanced software packages and advice we can guide you through the process, right from concept to completion ensuring that every building assessed will achieve a pass.

What is overheating?

Overheating as an ever-increasing issue in the built environment, as our climate warms. Overheating is how hot internal temperatures in buildings reach, how prolonged the hot temperatures occur for and how we can mitigate them.

What dictates if space overheats or not?

There are compliance targets for overheating in building’s most famously the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Technical Memorandum 52 (TM52), and the more recent TM59 aimed at homes. CIBSE’s TM52 is widely regarded as the most stringent and sophisticated of current overheating criteria. This is due to it being based on three CIBSE Design Summer Year’s (DSY’s) which simulate a variety of particularly “hot” years and it is based on the latest research into the rate at which people adapt to changes in climate. Designing according to TM52 criteria leads to much better thermal comfort and a superior living space compared to other criteria such as the previously used CIBSE Guide A. It is also mandatory to perform the calculations using a Dynamic Simulation Modelling (DSM) software capable of running hourly simulations for a whole year using approved weather data.

Who needs such an assessment?

Typically planners, its also part of the London Plan and rarely does a residential scheme gain planning approval without one. Inhabitants are also becoming aware of an increase in heat in their dwellings and taking legal action against contractors if sufficient mitigation has not been sought, therefore its an issue for existing buildings, not just new-build.

How can QuinnRoss Energy help?

QuinnRoss have the capability and tools to perform such analyses with fully compliant dynamic simulation software and have the experience of having performed many overheating analyses in many different schemes, in and outside of London.