Will Swan

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Verified

Will verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Professor at University of Salford

The heat transfer coefficient or the HTC is an industry-standard indicator of building energy performance. It has been predicated on an assumption that it is of a constant value, and several different methods have been developed to measure and calculate the HTC as a constant. Whilst there are limited variations of results obtained from these differ...

The Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential (DEEP) project combines multiple research activities to provide an appraisal of piecemeal and whole house approaches to retrofits in solid walled homes. It also explores how to improve measurements and models of technical performance and risks associated with retrofits. This report presents the resea...

Buildings, as the second-largest carbon emitter, play a significant role in decarbonising efforts to achieve net zero in the UK. The proposed Future Homes Standard aims to ensure a 75–80 % reduction in carbon emissions by increasing the building energy efficiency including decreasing U values and use of more efficient services for all new homes con...

The UK has some of the oldest buildings in Europe. They are also some of the worst performing in terms of energy performance. In tandem with these issues the UK has committed to making a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions. UK homes are currently responsible for almost 20 per cent of CO2 emissions. This leaves little option other than to make co...

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the assessment of a domestic property's energy performance status by a domestic energy assessor (DEA), to ascertain the possible underlying reasons for variability in the results of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). By variability, the authors mean discrepancies in assessment between different DEAs on simil...

The purpose of Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) is to assess a building’s performance at key stages and throughout the entire life cycle of the building. BPE takes a holistic approach towards building operation. It is used to evaluate designs, test buildings prior to occupation, during occupation and post occupation. How BPE is used Where rel...

Abstract The deployment of domestic smart metering infrastructure in Great Britain provides the opportunity for identification of home appliances utilising non‐intrusive load monitoring methods. Identifying the energy consumption of certain home appliances generates useful insights for the energy suppliers and for other bodies with a vested interes...

The BuildHeat Project investigates and trials a set of reliable, energy-efficient and affordable retrofit solutions for multiple-occupancy residential buildings. The project case study sites are in Rome, Zaragoza and Salford, Greater Manchester. Central to understanding the role of these solutions is a consideration of human factors: the experience...

Deploying solar reflective materials on urban surfaces is known as an effective heat mitigation strategy. Several studies have shown their cooling impacts; however, most of them have focused on rooftops rather than facades. The novelty of this paper is related to exploring the impact of each façade orientation on the corresponding microclimate and...

This paper studies the impact of different green barriers on the dispersion of air pollution in a neighbourhood. The study was performed with reference to air quality conditions in Manchester, UK. Manchester experiences a high level of NO2. Measured results showed that the average annual concentration level in 2018 was very close to the limit defin...

A purported approach to reducing heating energy in solid wall “hard to heat” housing is the simple application of a thin layer (<1 mm) of thermal paint containing insulating additives. The objective of this study was to test the energy saving claims by a systematic study of the material characteristics and thermal performance of internal coatings u...

Purpose There is a clear consensus that improving energy efficiency of existing housing stock is necessary to meet the UK’s legally binding carbon emission targets by 2050. The purpose of this paper is to assess the energy saving potentials from building retrofit using an end-terrace house, similar houses represent about 30 per cent of the existing...

Higher air temperatures in large cities like Manchester, UK, reduce human thermal comfort. In this paper, the impact of land cover on microclimate, and consequently on indoor thermal comfort is studied. Through different stages, field measurements and computer modelling were carried out for a heat wave episode in summer 2017 in Manchester: First, t...

In the UK, BB101 is the guidance document for ventilation design of school buildings. There are significant changes proposed in the new version of BB101. The aim of this paper is to examine the requirements of thermal comfort and CO 2 -based indoor air quality using both versions on a typical naturally ventilated preparatory school design using dyn...

The accurate assessment of buildings to assess their performance across a range of parameters is an essential part of understanding both new and retrofit buildings. The growing understanding of the performance gap in terms of its assessment and characterisation relies on effective methods of analysis. Here, we evaluate an experimental whole house m...

U-values of building elements are often determined using point measurements, where infrared imagery may be used to identify a suitable location for these measurements. Current methods identify that surface areas exhibiting a homogeneous temperature-away from regions of thermal bridging-can be used to obtain U-values. In doing so, however, the resul...

The residential sector is responsible for 29% of the total energy consumption of the UK, with 62% of this energy being used for space heating. Heat loss through the fabric of building elements is a crucial factor in the energy efficiency of homes, and a wide number of studies have looked at physical interventions to improve the energy efficiency of...

Purpose The Retrofit State of the Nation Survey has tracked the perceptions of social housing sector professionals’ views of retrofit since 2010. It has taken the form of three surveys conducted in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Here, the authors bring together the three surveys to specifically address the adoption and perceived effectiveness of retrofit te...

The methodology used for measuring the thermal performance of fabric retrofit systems which were applied to a solid wall UK Victorian house situated within an environmental chamber is explored in detail. The work describes how steady-state boundary conditions were approximated, then repeated at the Salford Energy House test facility. How establishe...

Deep energy efficient retrofit of hard to treat (HTT) properties is emerging as a major concern in the UK. A number of studies have highlighted the difficulties of effective delivery of this type of retrofit, citing issues of lower than expected performance, known as the ‘performance gap’. The aim of this study is to investigate the different facto...

Retrofit of hard to treat properties has been highlighted as a policy challenge to reduce energy consumption in the UK. This study undertook an experimental staged retrofit of a pre-1919 UK solid wall property under controlled conditions. The property is housed within an environmental chamber, where the conditions were held at a constant 5 °C durin...

There is a growing body of evidence available to indicate that there is often a discrepancy between the in situ measured thermal performance of a building fabric and the steady-state predicted performance of that fabric, even when the building fabric has been modelled based upon what was actually built. However, much of the work that has been publi...

Energy retrofitting of historic or existing buildings is a challenge that it has not yet been properly fully addressed. Multiple projects and methodologies are published every day but neither of them with the holistic approach that will assure complete success since the design phase. This stock is never considered as a whole. Its components are ins...

Reducing space heating energy demand supports the UK’s legislated carbon emission reduction targets and requires the effective characterisation of the UK’s existing housing stock to facilitate retrofitting decision-making. Approximately 6.6 million UK dwellings pre-date 1919 and are predominantly of suspended timber ground floor construction, the t...

The energy consumed by domestic space heating systems represents a considerable share of the energy consumed in the UK. At the same time up to a quarter of English homes have inadequate controls on the central heating systems. Current modelling tools, and results from the limited field trials that have been carried out, are problematic due to the i...

The 2008 Climate Change Act has committed the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent in 2050 from 1990 levels. Key to achieving this is a focus on reducing carbon emissions in residential property, where more than a quarter of the nation's carbon dioxide is emitted. The assessment of dwellings is an essential part of this process and this pap...

There is a growing body of evidence concerning the energy efficiency performance of domestic buildings in the UK, driven by policy-based agendas, such as the need for zero carbon dioxide homes by 2016 for new build homes, and the prior Green Deal and energy company obligation for sustainable refurbishment. While there have been a number of studies...

This paper aims to investigate the likely thermal performance of a unique pre-1919 Victorian case study property by using both current and future projected weather data after a deep retrofit. The property is a re-construction within an environmental chamber using reclaimed materials designed to test housing retrofit solutions. Climate projections f...

Retrofit has been described as one of the major engineering challenges of the twenty-first century (Kelly 2009). However, the industry needs to look beyond regarding the problem as restricted to the physical upgrade of properties. Asset managers, engineers and installers work on and in people’s homes and, in many cases, are subsequently changing th...

Purpose – The study was designed to assess the attitudes, strategic readiness and drivers and barriers to the adoption of sustainable retrofit within the UK social housing sector. Design/methodology/approach – The study was undertaken using a structured questionnaire that was completed by 130 providers of social housing. Findings – The study show...

The selection of the correct options to upgrade a building to improve its energy performance is an essential part of the sustainable retrofit process. It requires a complex mix of skills to identify and deliver the most effective combination of measures; building surveying, energy assessment, an appreciation of the current supply chain options and...

The sustainable retrofit of the domestic stock has been identified as one of the major ways to drive the UK's transition to a low-carbon economy. New systems and products to better insulate our homes, generate energy and control how we use it; all represent opportunities to improve the energy performance of the domestic stock. However, when we cons...

The physical upgrading of the existing domestic and industrial building stock to improve energy performance is an essential part of a transition to a low carbon society. Successfully retrofitting buildings to improve energy performance is not simply a technological challenge, it is a complex socio-technical problem that needs to be addressed in a c...

List of contributors vii Foreword Kevin Anderson xv 1 Retrofitting the built environment: An introduction 1 Will Swan and Philip Brown PART 1 Understanding the problem 5 2 Achieving systemic urban retrofit: A framework for action 7 Tim May, Mike Hodson, Simon Marvin and Beth Perry 3 Openness in household energy use: The new Housing Energy Fact File...

Purpose The study was designed to assess the knowledge, adoption and perceived effectiveness of sustainable retrofit technologies within the UK social housing sector. Design/methodology/approach The study was undertaken using a structured questionnaire that was completed by 130 providers of social housing. Findings The study showed that social ho...

IntroductionWhat is trust?Commercial manager in construction networksConclusions

Purpose The objective of this paper is to present different perspectives on building “trust” among supply chain participants working on construction projects. Design/methodology/approach A case study methodology was adopted; with five construction projects selected as five case studies for the trust in construction project on the basis a selection...

Purpose – The use of partnering has grown within the public sector of the UK construction industry. Central to partnering is the use of the partnering charter. The charter establishes the mutual objectives of the project team. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the types of objectives that are identified and the potential reasons for them....

The role of trust has been identified as a central influencer on the performance of project teams in both research and policy contexts, to an extent that it is almost taken for granted. However, actually identifying where trust exists and how it impacts project performance is less common. The partnering literature considers trust important, yet it...

• Trust is described as an elusive concept (Gambetta 1988), difficult to describe, understand and, therefore, manage. The Trust in Construction project undertook 6 exploratory case studies, of which 4 are presented in this paper, in order to understand how trust is formed, and the impact this has on project performance. • The authors propose a mod...

The Trust in Construction project was a two-year EPSRC funded research into the impact of trust on construction project performance. Here we outline the development of the measurement tool used for assessing the level of trust in project team relationships, known as the Trust Inventory. We discuss the process and rationale for developing the Trust...

Trust is described as an elusive concept, difficult to describe, understand, and therefore manage. The Trust in Construction project undertook five exploratory case studies in order to understand how trust is formed and the impact this has on project performance. The authors propose a model of the different forms of trust and the drivers and barrie...

As inter-organisational relations represent an increasingly important element in business the ability to build sustainable relationships becomes a key skill. To achieve sustainable relationships parties need to move from a low trust/low ethics base to a high trust/high ethics base in their relating. This paper uses data from a study into trust-base...

The issue of trust has been raised as a "gatekeeper" to problems of improving construction procurement (Latham 1994). The IMI Trust in Construction Project is an attempt to evaluate the levels of trust between individuals working together on construction projects. The project is currently undertaking pilot case studies applying Social Network Analy...

Integration is the key to the performance improvement for the fragmented construction industry. Research in recent years has resulted in some rapid maturing integration technologies, such as data modelling, integrated project database, data management and data exchange, integration with third party application software, etc. This paper describes a...

The inter-organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and households. Many of these networks are concerned with the exchange of tangible goods. However, increasing numbers are concerned with the exchange of knowledge and all are...

This paper describes an integrated web-based virtual model that is being developed at the University of Salford in the UK to support housing projects. The model supports the integration of design, cost estimating and time planning information using the concept of an integrated project database that is interfaced to a web-based virtual reality envir...

The Egan report on the UK construction has identified the traditional competitive tendering as one of the main causes for the poor performance of the industry. It recommends the use of supply chain Partnering to deliver valuable performance improvements. Partnering involves two or more organisations working together to improve performance through a...

This paper provides a review of energy policy with particular respect to its impact on the low carbon retrofit of UK housing. It provides an analysis of the scale and order of the problem and classifies the range of current policy responses. Through comparing the policy regimes against the scale and order of the problem, the paper identifies gaps i...

The UK Residential Sector accounts for approximately 27% of all the of the energy use in the UK (DECC 2011). The slow replacement rate of the stock, less than 1% per annum, means that changes to the way we build new homes will only make a minimal impact on the energy use within the domestic sector, meaning minimal impact on policy issues such as cl...

The ApRemodel project is a study of multi-occupancy retrofit in the Finnish context. As part of the study a research project was commissioned to identify and compare innovative practice with regards to non-technical issues being addressed in retrofit projects being undertaken in the UK housing sector. Given that the examples were required to addres...