Better Buildings

ESSAY 3Low-energy buildings – delivering theory in practice

Bill Gething, University of the West of England

There has been growing evidence that, in practice, the energy performance of recent buildings has fallen short of expectations, with potential consequences for their occupants, the reputation of the construction industry and the effectiveness of UK carbon policies to deliver emissions targets. A recent pan-industry initiative by the Zero Carbon Hub has reviewed the evidence for this performance gap in housing, and has carried out new research to establish the factors that contribute to it and to suggest how these might be addressed. The ...