ENGT5112: Detailed Retrofit Design Report for Sustainable Buildings

This report presents a detailed retrofit design for the Linden Primary School, focusing on enhancing its sustainability. The project addresses key areas including glazing, ventilation, and lighting to improve energy efficiency and reduce the building's environmental impact. The existing single-glazed windows are proposed to be replaced with double-pane insulated glass, and the mechanical extract ventilation system is to be modified with a natural ventilation system. Furthermore, the report suggests replacing the current lighting system with LED bulbs to increase energy savings. The report includes detailed designs, diagrams, and calculations to support the proposed retrofitting operations, emphasizing the importance of sustainability in building construction and the benefits of retrofitting existing structures for environmental and human health. The study also considers the challenges and constraints of retrofitting, such as budgetary limitations and the need to minimize disruption to the school's operations. The report concludes by highlighting the potential for the Linden Primary School to become a more sustainable building through the implementation of these retrofit measures.

Running Head: Sustainable Buildings
Title: Sustainable Buildings
Student Name and Id:
Course Name and Id:
University
Date: 9/1/2019
Author Note
The current report is presented as part of the requirements to complete the course work.

Sustainable Buildings
Contents
Preface................................................................................................................................5
Overview of the sustainable Design Proposal (Retrofit)....................................................6
Why Retrofit?.....................................................................................................................6
Scope of Retrofit and selected phases of retrofitting operations........................................7
Constraints and challenges to Retrofitting:.........................................................................7
Detailed design of the retrofit operations:..........................................................................8
A. Glazing........................................................................................................................8
Detailed Design.................................................................................................................11
B) Ventilation..................................................................................................................15
Detailed Design of the retrofit..........................................................................................15
C) Lighting........................................................................................................................17
Detailed Design.................................................................................................................17
Miscellaneous...................................................................................................................19
Sample calculations..........................................................................................................22
Conclusion........................................................................................................................24
References.........................................................................................................................25
Appendix - 1.....................................................................................................................26
Appendix – 2.....................................................................................................................31
APPENDIX - 3.................................................................................................................32
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List of Figures
Figure 1 Double panel insulated glass window cut section...................................................................8
Figure 2 Windows requiring automatic retraction to get closed automatically when no need to keep
open....................................................................................................................................................11
Figure 3 Block 1 ground floor...............................................................................................................12
Figure 4 Block 2 of the Linden Primary school.....................................................................................13
Figure 5 Uninsulated bricks needing insulation...................................................................................15
Figure 6 Thermal insulation of the uninsulated walls..........................................................................16
Figure 7 Roof top installations for power generation..........................................................................19
Figure 8 Solar thermal system(cuce et al.,2016)..................................................................................20
Figure 13Linden public school Building block (View 9)........................................................................25
Figure 14 Another block of the school (view – 8)................................................................................25
Figure 15 Another block of the school (view 7)...................................................................................25
Figure 16 Inside corridor (View 6)........................................................................................................26
Figure 17 inside Class room(view 5)....................................................................................................27
Figure 18 Another block of school building (View 4)...........................................................................28
Figure 19 Windows at other side (view 3)...........................................................................................28
Figure 20 School from outside (view 2)...............................................................................................29
Figure 21 School from other side (View 1)...........................................................................................29
Figure 22 Linden Public school building location.................................................................................30
Figure 23Two blocks as shown in the Satellite images........................................................................30
Figure 24 Site plan of buildings with boundaries.................................................................................31
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Preface
The changed perception of the people towards ecology and increased concerned towards
better usage of the resources and the application of the processes for better utilization of the
resources for ecological friendly outcomes has resulted in evolution of sustainable or Green
Buildings. Sustainable buildings do employ eco-friendly procedures and processes right from
the planning to demolition of the buildings at the end of the life cycle of operations. In any
case, sustainable buildings do need effective consideration and co-operation of all the
stakeholders like planner, architects, construction engineers, owners and other stakeholders.
All of them do collectively work for the shared vision and so do materialize eco-friendly
green or sustainable buildings. There is no limitation of the application of the sustainable
building principles; they are equally applicable for any scale of construction, any location as
well for any type of purpose. Depending on the target construction, the resources and other
application procedures do vary. Several organizations are at present instrumental in enabling
sustainable building construction operations, design and promotion. For example LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environment) is working for rating the design, construction,
operation and maintenance of the green buildings to promote better practices in the
sustainable building applications. British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment
Environmental Assessment method) is popular procedure being employed in UK, Excellence
in design for greater Efficiencies (EDGE) is being promoted by World Bank. Green Start is
the technique and evaluation system being used in Australia, Green Building Index is being
employed in Malaysia. Each of these organizations are instrumental in supporting Sustainable
building practices. The key concerns of sustainable building practices include reducing the
overall life cycle emissions right from the planning to the demolition of the building during
the entire life cycle of the operations. Secondly it is related with efficient usage of the energy,
water and other resources. Minimizing the waste from the building and the also working for
reducing the pollution as well as the environmental degradation as well. Finally the Green
buildings are meant for the promotion of healthy impacts on the occupants (human health) as
well as to promote healthy impact over the life of the environment as well. Sustainable
building construction approaches proceeds in two ways. The first is the construction from the
scratch, where in the building construction will be enabled right from the scratch and the
second is the retrofitting the existing construction to fit for sustainable building requirements.
In the first case, there is flexibility to plan and enable proper planning for effective utilization
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of the existing resources right from the beginning and the shaping will be done as per the
requirements. However in the second case, the existing structure and the existing facilities of
the construction will be modified to meet the required objectives. In either case, the end
objectives of the human and ecological health promotion remain the key intention. The
following part of the report is focussed on the detailed retrofit design of the building meant to
get converted to the sustainable building construction. The actual design is discussed in the
first part of the assignment and this second part (PART B) focuses on other aspects of
detailed retrofit design of the Green Building.
Overview of the sustainable Design Proposal (Retrofit)
The design selected for the case of retrofit requirements is a school building (Linden Primary
School). Within the context of reducing the carbon foot print from the current building
existence, operation and maintenance perspectives three different options are proposed to
enhance the sustainability proposal of the construction.
 The first is improving the current lighting system in the building construction. The
proposed new lighting system is expected to improve the overall lighting efficiency
and thereby should decrease the overall energy consumption from the lighting energy
usage dynamics. Employing LED bulbs over other forms of lighting can improve the
overall energy savings for the same lumens lighting requirements. There are other
possible controls that can be integrated as well.
 The second part of the report is modification of the current window systems to enable
natural ventilation and lighting as much as possible, which can reduce the energy
dependence for the routine operations of the building. Typical changes in the glazing
of windows for insulation can improve energy saving potential.
 The Existing mechanical Extract Ventilation system is expected to be modified with a
natural ventilation system for the sake of better operational efficiency. This can work
for improving the overall performance of the system in terms of energy saving.
Why Retrofit?
There are two options for increasing the sustainability promotion, rather than going from
scratch, the retrofitting practice will reduce the overall costing of the change and offers
much flexibility to increase the comfort levels offered by the construction. Retrofits will
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work for improving the overall sustainability in the building construction while reducing
the cost of the transformation.
Scope of Retrofit and selected phases of retrofitting operations
Existing building features and the scope of retrofit in the first phase:
 Linden primary school buildings located in Leicester is home to about 400 people
along with the students and the teachers as well.
 Original construction of the building is done in 1950s and there were few changes
in the construction to provide it more modern outlook in the recent years.
 The annual energy consumption is 705646KWh for the sake of natural gas and
75,760 Kwh for electricity.
 Three possible areas of focus for retrofitting include lighting, Glazing and
mechanical ventilation as well.
 The next phases of the retrofit can focus on several other aspects of the building
like increasing the dependence on the renewable energy either from solar and/or
with the usage of the wind turbine based energy generation. Also there is
considerable scope for extending the current energy usage by employing means
like improving the efficiency of the operations by using insulated bricks and by
enhancing the efficiency, design and operations of the heating systems in use in
the Linden primary school. Also there is scope to enhance the effectiveness of the
proposals made in the first phase by including with few modifications to the
existing models.
Constraints and challenges to Retrofitting:
 As of now, the foremost challenge lies in letting the staff and concerned
stakeholders accept the need for retrofit and enable the same in the school
premises.
 If the retrofitting is initiated, the process should not actually impact the
school functionality either by noise pollution or by any other modes like
safety issues and any other possible barriers.
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 The other challenges of the retrofitting operations include budgetary
constraints. There is need to restrict the overall cost of the retrofitting
operations for the budget sanctioned and should able to provide the best
possible outcomes to enable the sustainability objectives achieved to the
maximum.
 Timely completion of the project is another important objective of the
sustainable building construction practice. Such timely construction of
work is necessary for not letting it interfere with the other activities of the
school functionality.
Assuming the project manager can focus on other aspects of the
retrofitting like convincing the school management for the adaptation to
the proposals as well will enable getting the right investment as budget for
the retrofitting; the following part of the report is presented with the
detailed design of the retrofitting operations. The overall costing of the
retrofitting operations as is assumed to be estimated more realistically and
granted from the school administration. Further the proposed first phases
of retrofitting operations are considered for detailed design in the first part
of the report.
Detailed design of the retrofit operations:
A. Glazing
Some of the much focussed aspects of the glazing systems in use in
the Linden primary school at present are as follows,
The glazing employed in the school at present is a single glazing.
Single glazing system does have limitations in rendering the
insulation to the house occupants. There is considerable scope for
the loss of thermal energy from the in-house premises through the
single glazed windows.
During the school operational times, it is possible that the noise
generated in the outside of the school premises can pass into the
school building, disrupting the school progress.
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Burglars and robbers can easily break open the single glazing
windows in general.
Proposal: Replaced the single glazed windows with double layer
glass panels, which do possess an air gap in between for better
insulation.
Typical glass panel will contain two glazes (Hashim and
Hoshi,2018) and separated by air gap and fitted with a desiccant as
well with a sealant at the bottom. The entire set-up will be fixed in
the windows frame.
Thickness of the glass panel: 1” (one inch is the proposed thickness
due to the fact that it is school building and there is likely
possibilities of impacts)
Too small thickness will reduce the strength of the glass panel and
the too large thickness can result in more costing. The proposed
thickness is moderate and upto the needs of the school building.
The spacing between the two glass panels is filled with air gap.
Figure 1 Double panel insulated glass window cut section
School Building Overview of the Ground floor:
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Building overview
o The original building as constructed about seventy years back is a two storey
building with reinforced concrete framed structures and it also has masonry
walls which includes uninsulated solid brick external wall structure as well.
o There is uninsulated reinforced concrete deck flat roof of unknown thickness
with mineral felt applied over the original asphalt covering falling towards the
concealed concrete gutters and cast iron down pipes.
o “Most of the windows in the construction are of single glazing and with
framed units and also possess traditional wooden doors.”
o The original construction is of two blocks the block 1 towards south west and
the Block 2 towards north east. Block 1 is mainly single storey construction
and the Block 2 is mainly two storey construction.
o Recent construction changes include traditional cavity wall structure and
pitched roof with concrete interlocking. New extensions for room 93,94
attached to the block 1 as well as the one attached to the Block 2 for room
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12,13,14 and 15 were built recently in 2003, insulated cavities and insulation
under the concrete roofs makes up the construction.
o Most of the front elevation windows do have mixture of single glazing and
double glazing metal frames.
Detailed Design
Inorder to make the building more insulated from the possible heat loos to the
exterior from the interior of the building in the winter, there is need to change the
complete single glazed glass panels employed in the construction of the double
glazing type.
There are few metal frames already present in the double glazing type. Hence for
the cases where there is still single glazing frame, there is immediate change
needed to make it into the double glazing.
About 1-1/2” air gap will be sufficient for the double glazing glass panes which
are to be installed afresh in the building construction. Also at the same time, the
thickness of the glass panes can be restricted to about 1” maximum. For the
instances of the old double glaze panels whatever thickness that the glass panels
are designed for, the same thickness can be allowed. This is due to the fact that the
designed thickness values are fit for the purpose of the school building from the
last 70 years and they have effectively withstood all types of the operational loads
like shock loads, wind loads and other types of impact loads during the service
conditions of the school building.
 For view 1, View 2 and view 3, almost all the windows are fixed type and
it does not look like meant for any air flow, only being used for lighting
sake. Hence there is no much issues with these windows and they can be
employed for double glazing glass panelling straight away.
 The other windows in the View-4, the window panels are meant for air
flow as well, hence there is need to include retractory mechanism for the
windows designed with double glaze. This will allow the automatic
closure of the windows when there is no need for any air flow inside.
Particularly in the winter times, there is no need to keep any of these
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windows open for letting the cold air flow into the building. This will
result in increasing the heat load on the ventilation systems and heaters.
Figure 2 Windows requiring automatic retraction to get closed automatically when no need to keep open.
Either mechanical or centralized controlled instrumentation can be employed for
closing such windows when they are not needed to kept open.
Mainly during the times of heating in winter cold conditions.
View 6 like corridors in the entire building block need to be insulated at the top of
the ceiling. Since the top ceiling is allowed for natural ventilation it is required to
keep it transparent for the light and at the same time it can be used to insulate the
enclosed space for preventing the heat from getting lost to the atmosphere. In this
connection, it is required to keep either double or triple glazing glass panels with
enclosed air gaps. In this case the thicknesses of the glass panels can be
maintained about ½”. However the bottom metal mesh can be replaced in the
locations where it approached service life with frame type of construction, which
can have more lighting transmission area which can contribute better lighting of
the region. Also the color of the glass needs to be transparent and white and not
like the light green color or any other color that prevents the light transmission.
There are few windows shown in the view-8 of the Block-1 in the upper stairs and
even they need to be arranged with the retractory mechanism to control the air loss
from the space. View-9 of the building is another profile of the block where in the
top glazing glass panels are shown and they need to be replaced with either triple
or double glazing glass panels for better insulation requirements.
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Figure 3 Block 1 ground floor
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