Edinburgh Napier University

  Sustainable designs will come to nothing if they are lost in construction process. Therefore, the accuracy of design details and the transformation to the construction details is vital to achieve initial design thinking targets. This is driven most importantly by the fact that the UK Government strategy for all new homes is on the basis of “fabric first” approach to design. This illustrates that priority is on improving energy efficiency through building envelope by increasing insulation thickness; reducing thermal bridging risks as well as making buildings more airtight. This study uses a residential building in Wales, UK as a case study to demonstrate how UK government approach is applied both in design stage and construction stage to meet essential building standards. The methodology includes dynamic thermal simulations, 2D thermal bridge analysis of the construction details and diagnostic test using air permeability test. Results demonstrate that fabric-first approach applied by contractors in housing development is not only able to rectify design errors but also is able to achieve even higher standard levels in some cases.