Page 14 - Final_bw_101376401

Rsearch Report 14 “ BUILDINGS DON’ T

BREA THE , IF Y OU’RE IN

INTERV IE W 1 SOMETHING THA T ’ S BEEN
BREA THING GET OU T ,
Y OU’ V E BEEN EA TEN!

J AMES - MALE 38 INFIL TRA TION IS NO T “
ENGINEER V ENTIL A TION.

Through my interview with James, an
engineer and Director of his own company
in the healthy building practice space, there
was a nonchalance to his responses and
apprehension towards the powers at be in
the construction industry. SICK BUILDING S Y NDROME
A T TIT UDE F OC US
His feeling of tiredness was ever present,
a sense of a man who had been providing
answers and solutions to problems which
have not been solved for generations. He
re-iterated the point that ventilation and
infiltration are two concepts which are still
not understood. He spoke candidly about
the solutions being simple, and ‘around for
donkeys’ years,’ and that adapting basic
methods from models such as Passive House
does not need to be a cost burden.

He mentioned that people from low socio-
economic backgrounds are most effected
by sick building syndrome, but the problems
are still prevalent within the high-end
architectural markets. He went into further
detail about what a turn-key solution
might look like, describing a continuously
thermally broken envelope in conjunction
with mechanical ventilation systems such
as HRV and ERV to regulate the internal air
quality. He mentioned that Australia is often
at odds with an entire home conditioning KE Y BEHA V IOURS IN RE GARD
service, preferring to heat and cool individual T O SICK BUILDING S Y NDROME
areas of the home. He notes that good
cross flow natural ventilation is important to • Ensuring a continously thermally broken envelope
accommodate these habits, whilst ensuring • Adapting the ‘European’ methodology
the building envelope is not allowing • Design which encourages good cross flow ventilation
infiltration into the home. • Adapting a solution which enables indoor-outdoor
connection can be challenging to maintain thermal
comfort.
He notes that infiltration through thermal
Brendan Wilson bridging is the main cause of condensation • Occupant behviour is often at odds with isothermal
conditioning.
and mould, particularly in colder climate
zones such as Tasmania and New Zealand.