ABERTAY Housing Association and Robert Gordon University have teamed up to identify a solution to improve the energy efficiency of steel framed buildings.
Abertay HA has nearly 100 steel framed buildings which will currently fail to meet new energy efficiency legislation coming into force in 2020.
This new project will look to find a solution to bring the properties up to the required standard.
The Dundee-based housing association has embarked on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with staff at Robert Gordon University’s Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment in a bid to find a sustainable solution for enhancing the thermal performance of the buildings, while also preventing the stock from further deterioration by controlling and managing moisture within walls.
The project, which has received over £90,000 of funding from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, will aim to develop innovative low energy solutions using a ‘fabric first’ approach to improve energy efficiencies.
These measures will then be monitored after installation and recommendations made as to the best way to proceed.
Bob Sander, Operations Director at Abertay Housing Association, said, “The issues we face with these steel framed buildings affect several thousand other properties throughout Scotland so the project has the potential to have a meaningful impact on the country’s housing stock.
“We quickly realised a thoroughly considered solution would be fundamental, and this could only be realised through close collaboration with experts in the field, who are not a commercially driven consultancy.
“It could also not be based on untested manufacturer’s claims for a solution to such a specific problem.”
RGU’s Built Environment lecturer, Michael Dignan, will be supervising the project at the Scott Sutherland School. He added, “We are delighted to be working alongside Abertay Housing Association on this project, which will hopefully improve the comfort of tenants currently in the properties, as well as reducing their bills.
“Partnership projects such as these are a great example of the way that industry and academia can work together to tackle difficult issues.”
Around 3,000 steel-framed homes were constructed in Scotland between 1926 and 1928.
The project will take a holistic consideration of how a building and its components work together, as well as building up an understanding of the specific life patterns of tenants and occupants.
