Edinburgh Napier University

  Thermal comfort is crucial to ascertain the energy consumption in buildings and is a key factor for decision-making in the design of sustainable building envelopes. This paper presents a methodology to assess the performance of construction systems quantitatively on the basis of overall yearly thermal comfort. A framework is proposed to deal with the risk from climate change temperature increases in the UK. A dynamic thermal model with five of the most commonly used construction systems for dwellings was chosen for simulation in London, UK, for current, short term, medium term and long-term climate scenarios using the software Designbuilder. The research investigated the effect of thermal mass and insulation thickness on the behaviour of widely used construction systems based on annual thermal comfort. The study reveals that high level of thermal mass and insulation thickness do not necessarily provide maximum comfort hours in high performance construction systems for future climates.