ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 282

Introduction
The UK has one of the oldest housing stocks in Europe, which has a strong identity and cultural significance. Such housing stock has approximately 13 million homes built before 1960 (RIBA
2013). These houses were built when the issue of greenhouse gases and climate changes were
not a global concern. Thus, their design was not conceived to ensure energy efficiency or thermal
comfort for its occupants. As a result, such housing requires high-energy input to achieve thermal
comfort levels, which in the context of social housing may lead to fuel poverty.
The UK government is committed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. The
DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change), responsible for implementing actions to ensure the achievement of the aforementioned goals, conducted extensive research and identified
that the existing homes are responsible for 27% out of the total of carbon dioxide emissions in the
UK (TBS 2014). Furthermore, it is known that three quarters of the existing houses will still stand
in 2050. Therefore, quality improvements are needed on the existing housing stock (HM Government 2010).
The work presented in this paper is part of a wider research project entitled Solid Wall Innovative Insulation and Monitoring Processes using Lean Energy Efficient Retrofit (S-IMPLER), funded
through Innovate UK (http://www.s-impler.com). S-IMPLER aims to investigate the retrofit of solid
wall housing, to achieve a 60% reduction in monitored energy costs, with less disruption, at least
10% faster, without reductions in quality & safety. The research is a joint initiative with a housing
association, two SME’s, a contractor, academic institutions, a lean consultant, and a construction
organisation. Several innovations derived from S-IMPLER project will be combined into a single
proposition:
• an innovative surveying tool;
• a Building Information Modelling tool to allow client modelling of different retrofit options considering costs and benefits;
• a whole house monitoring system to assess real energy performance;
• a new solid wall retrofit Certification scheme to transfer knowledge and assure quality
The outcomes of S-IMPLER will be relevant to many of 6.9m UK’s solid walled homes. BIM is one
element of the SIMPLER collaborative research project, and the University of Huddersfield leads
its development, which involves a team of researchers. The BIM work package aims to devise a
BIM Retrofit Protocol, which incorporates the use of ‘what if’ scenario testing for retrofit solutions,
addressing the complexity of solid wall housing. BIM is therefore utilised for predictive and evaluative energy analysis, 4D BIM scheduling, and BIM cost analysis. The what-if retrofit scenarios
will deliver an integrated solution that deals with the issues of high energy consumption due to
poor thermal performance; reductions in the carbon footprint; internal mould and condensation
issues, using constructive solutions that offer reduced disruption to the housing occupier. This paper focuses on the utilisation of 4D BIM models to create what-if scenarios based on minimizing
disruption for tenants, which is part of the BIM element in S-IMPLER. The investigation explores
the utilisation of 4D BIM models to support the decision-making process when analysing alternative retrofit scenarios for solid wall homes with the aim of reducing occupiers’ disruption.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy