Environmental site layout planning: solar access, microclimate and passive cooling in urban areas

This book is divided into six main chapters. Chapter 1 sets the scene, outlining the importance of each of the main environmental factors affecting site layout. Chapters 2–6 then cover the urban design process, from the selection of a site for a new development to the design and landscaping of individual buildings and the spaces around them. Chapter 2 begins by considering the environmental issues affecting site location. It will be particularly valuable for urban planners setting out environmental structure plans for their cities and towns. It will also be of value to developers who have a range of different sites from which to choose the location of a development. Chapter 3, on public open space, is also principally aimed at urban planners and designers of multi-building developments. It covers a range of issues concerned with the design of groups of buildings and the external spaces they generate around them. Chapter 4 focuses on the design of individual groups of buildings. It will be of particular interest to building designers and development control officers. A key issue, dealt with fully here, is how the new building affects the environmental quality of existing buildings nearby. Chapter 5 links in with this, showing how built form can impact the quality of the building itself and its immediate surroundings. Finally, Chapter 6 will be of particular interest to landscape designers. It deals with the selection and design of vegetation and hard landscaping to modify microclimate in the spaces immediately surrounding buildings. Europe covers a wide range of climate types and not all the techniques described in this book will be applicable to all of them. Throughout the book, the symbols (left) show which climate types the advice is aimed at. Section 1.13 (at the end of this chapter) will be especially useful here. It describes the range of climate types in Europe and the heating and cooling requirements in each, with a summary of layout strategies. Designers without detailed local knowledge of an area may find it helpful to start with this chapter. The book refers to a range of prediction tools which can help evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings and groups of buildings. These are described briefly in Appendices A and B and full references are given. Finally, Appendix C contains a glossary of technical terms used.

Groundwater Discharge Tests: Simulation and Analysis

Building Adaptation

Description
As existing buildings age, nearly half of all construction activity in Britain is related to maintenance, refurbishment and conversions. Building adaptation is an activity that continues to make a significant contribution to the workload of the construction industry. Given its importance to sustainable construction, the proportion of adaptation works in relation to new build is likely to remain substantial for the foreseeable future, especially in the developed parts of the world. Building Adaptation, Second Edition is intended as a primer on the physical changes that can affect older properties. It demonstrates the general principles, techniques, and processes needed when existing buildings must undergo alteration, conversion, extension, improvement, or refurbishment. The publication of the first edition of Building Adaptation reflected the upsurge in refurbishment work. The book quickly established itself as one of the core texts for building surveying students and others on undergraduate and postgraduate built environment courses. This new edition continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to all the key issues relating to the adaptation of buildings. It deals with any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance.

Audience:
Readership (primary):. Students (senior undergraduate, graduate, research) of Building Rehabilitation, Built Resources, Construction Management and Surveying. Readership (secondary): Professional Architects, Architectural Technologists, Builders, Building Surveyors

Contents

Introduction; Feasibility; Principles of Building Conversion; Adaptive fuses; Lateral extensions; Vertical extensions; Structural alterations; Principles of refurbishment; Further aspects of refurbishment; Sustainable adaptation; Implementation; Appendices

Protective Measures for Housing on Gas-contaminated Land

This manual is a practical guide to current good practice for the detailing and the construction of passive soil gas protective measures for new and existing residential development. It does not contain advice on the design of passive or active protective measures for specific gas regimes, nor does it provide information on active gas protective systems or inground protective measures external to the building, such as the use of venting trenches or barriers. The gases considered are principally methane, carbon dioxide and mixtures of the two. The sources of both gases are typically:
l fill or made ground containing biodegradable organic material;
l soils with a high organic content, eg peat;
l coal measures and/or underground mine workings;
l soil gas migrating from a nearby source.
The details are also applicable to radon and, subject to the suitability of the materials, VOCs. This manual should be used only after the gas regime for a site has been fully characterised and it has been confirmed that the passive protective measures contained in the manual are appropriate. Passive protective measures are the combination of utilising the ground floor as a barrier against the ingress into the building of soil gas, and sub-floor venting which dilutes and disperses the soil gas. The investigation and assessment of a soil gas regime for a specific site and the selection and design of an appropriate gas protective system or systems requires specialist advice from a suitably qualified and experienced engineer or scientist. Every site is unique; this manual does not provide advice on the assessment of sites or the selection of the most appropriate protective measures. The reader must, therefore, make appropriate and specific assessments with a geotechnical and geoenvironmental investigation. Guidance on site assessment is in the publications listed opposite on page iv, and on page 66. When applying the details in this manual, the designer must always check that the details for gas protection do not conflict with Building Regulations for other design and construction criteria, for example thermal insulation, accessibility or damp and water penetration.