AHRC/EPSRC Science & Heritage Programme
Research Cluster EGOR - Environmental Guidelines: Opportunities and Risks
Executive summary of the EGOR working group 2 meeting: Buildings
University College London
20 April 2009
The second EGOR working group meeting was attended by
Nancy Bell / The National ArchivesBill Bordass / William Bordass Associates
Roger Breckon / LDA
Leslie Carlyle / Tate
Michael Davies / UCL
Ray French / Tate
Stephen Hackney / Tate
John Hughes / University of the West of Scotland
Casimir Iwaszkiewicz / InBuilt
Katy Lithgow / National Trust
Steve Macey / Buro Happold
Kostas Ntanos / The National Archives
Ian Ridley / UCL
Matija Strlič / UCL - Centre for Sustainable Heritage
Nigel Sunter / Purcell Miller Tritton
David Thickett / English Heritage
Robert Turner / Eura Conservation
David Watt / Hutton+Rostron
Siobhan Watts / National Museums Liverpool
Peter Wilson / Royal Shakespeare Company
Roger Curtis / Historic Scotland
The research questions addressed were:
•How well do current environmental, guidelines, standards, and sustainability targets align with the conservation of cultural heritage?
•In what way do current environmental guidelines, standards, and legislation align with historic structures? With modern buildings?
•What are the costs of current guidelines to built heritage? What are the costs of adapting buildings to achieve preservation environments, or are new builds preferable?
•What are the passive technologies available as alternatives? What technologies/materials might be available now or in the future which can provide energy efficiency and responsible stewardship?
Presentations were given by:
-Stephen Hackney/Tate, reported on the discussions and conclusions of the first EGOR working group meeting at Tate
-Kostas Ntanos/The National Archives, presented a paper on acceptability of standards, their frequent misinterpretation and the need for reflection
-Ray French/Tate, discussed application of currently valid environmental and other standards in the process of building a new museum or gallery space.
The research questions were discussed in three groups following each of the presentations above. The knowledge gaps and research questions were recorded and are transcribed below under suitable headings.
1. Understanding the data
-What does comparing data (eg H/T) at meta level enable us to tell (eg occasional mould growth, change over time…); can we compare data collected for other purposes
-Analysis of data from environmental monitoring
-Monitor according to observed problems – do protocols exist (risk management) if no problem – don’t monitor?
-Can we get useful data on buildings to enable predictive modelling of performance, internal environment
-Data collection – we need more information to support decision making and design
2. Understanding the costs
-Costs need to be identified according to us of space + interrelationships of spaces with multiple uses: storage, display, office, restaurants, shops
-Effectiveness of passive environmental management
-Effectiveness of operation of HVAC systems
-Gap in info on what factors increase energy costs: visitor comfort, RH control?
-Are there energy savings by allowing greater fluctuations about a set point?
3. Mould: still (and increasingly so) a pressing issue
-Do we understand enough about surface water activity – options for control on building/collection surfaces ( as opposed to new build emphasis on RH control)?
-Are there useful thresholds?
-Relationship with air movement
-Connection with data/research in building physics (where driven by health) – use of modelling + implications for cost
-What technology is needed to ID water activity, how to measure it – probes (where) or IR
4. Understanding and applying new technologies
-Lighting in museum: LEDs – latest developments/technology
-Use of building / wall construction to modify environment eg hygroscopic walls? (currently applicable to stores, potential for galleries/display?)
-Use of renewables
-On-site energy generation
-What are the possibilities of passive anything – ventilation, heating, cooling, and moisture sinks etc.
-Alternative technologies: solar heating/photovoltaic devices/ natural daylight use/ light & heat pipes / thermal aquifer storage
-New external insulation materials on traditional buildings / testing thereof
-Ventilation within walls/conditioning spaces within the building envelope
5. Understanding traditional technologies
-Evaluation of traditional building designs to cope with heat/cold/ventilation eg cupola, skylights
-Research: historic means of environmental control associated with generic building types
-Resilience of traditional buildings
-Carbon footprint of heritage buildings / embedded carbon
-How do we measure the impact of use on historic buildings – tolerances
-How do we characterise historic building materials and structures?
-Need to understand thermal qualities of historic/existing buildings/structures
-Lifecycle costing of materials/components: traditional vs. complex
6. Modelling the historic built environment
-Air movement regarding building and people -> building and collection health
-Understand how mechanical ventilation can achieve conservation conditions/beneficial for people
-Thermography captured digitally – to show/monitor problems; where to locate what probe
-Much modelling but high uncertainties in output – how to tackle this; understanding of passive technologies
-Daily energy profiles
-Modelling of building environments and performance
-Understanding of building occupancy and use
-Controlling buildings/areas vs. controlling cases flexibility
-Model environments to predict consumption for the benefit of collection/buildings vs people
-Measure performance over time to look for trends
-Impact of sealing on the indoor environment
-Performance of buildings/systems
-Interaction between the building and collection within it
7. Better understanding of materials
-Calculate longevity of different materials compared to different set points/bands/fluctuations
-Do we know enough about susceptibility of materials at extremes of acceptable bands
-Acceptable rate of repair/replacement/loss of fabric related to collections (according to controllability of environment)
-What are apparent states of conservation to different cultural artefacts
-What are acceptable rates of change in historic building & collection materials – conflict or mutual benefit
-How can we better understand the performance of materials – moisture, thermal and values
-How do we measure change in condition (to inform the above)?
-Air circulation/moisture gradients and their impact on fabric/collection health
-Understand why damage has not occurred where current standards suggest it should
-Effect of RH/T on collection materials/objects + fluctuations thereof
-Is what is ‘good’ well understood? Depends on the nature of collection, doesn’t include future use; archives and paintings, sensitive surfaces
8. Rethinking the standards
-Current standards affect both buildings + collection at the boundaries / outer limits
-Standards patchy – building regimes, planning but nonexistent on external environment on buildings
-Need to undertake consultative conservation management planning to assess risk + prioritise resources
-Mitigation strategies – have we ID these to respond to loss?
-Pre-guidelines needed to understand impact
-Feedback from conservators to BMS/awareness of the latest BMS technology : condition monitoring approach/pattern recognition
-Rethink relationship between condition + BMS
-What are gaseous/particulate pollutant standards for objects/historic surfaces + people/synergies between them
-Are standards for buildings/collections/people mutually beneficial or exclusive
-Light exposure standards – are these valid? How do they inform the use of historic / design of new build especially in the case of iconic buildings
-How much anarchy can be allowed regarding standards in an accountable society
-Revitalising principles of environmental standards in view of building robust & resilient buildings
-Guidance/standards based too much around technological fixes eg planning regimes, rather than systemic, management solutions
-Driven by short term (capital improvement) funding
-Lack of knowledge to prioritise choices between technologies, between issues
-Decision making to take account of context not technical detail in isolation
-Some existing quantitative measures useful eg energy/carbon consumption to drive focus; but others are needed -> matrix based assessments that enable synergy between different usages to be assessed, to avoid descending into carbon trading
-Useful standards for collections need risk based approach
-Engineering input at the design stage
-What is needed/can be done to move away from obsession with figures – to use them to inform the risk rather than be the solution
-Wider integration of sustainability + cultural heritage is needed eg. Via CIBSE
-Create an equivalent of ASHRAE guidelines for engineers and architects – passive methods
-Impact of introducing heating into traditional buildings
9. Predicting the future
-Prediction of future climate at a site level
-Analyse the performance of strategies for environmental control under different scenarios
-Future socio-economic climate
-Use of cultural heritage
-Predicting future – based too much on the past
10. Need for improved communication
-Link between building research + solutions for cultural heritage; needs a forum for communication
Matija Strlič
UCL Centre for Sustainable Heritage