Thermal Comfort and Overheating Risk in Gateway House Building Report

This report presents an assessment of thermal comfort in the Gateway House building at De Montfort University, Leicester. The study utilizes HOBO pendant sensors to measure temperature variations and analyze overheating risks, particularly during the summer months. The research considers factors influencing thermal comfort, such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, and building design, referencing the impact of governmental construction policies and the increasing demand for housing. The methodology involves collecting primary data through sensor installations and surveys to investigate thermal comfort and overheating risks. Potential findings include the correlation between temperature measurements, occupant complaints, and the perception of thermal comfort. The report also discusses future work, including potential improvements to thermal comfort through various measures like window treatments, ventilation enhancements, and the use of air conditioning. The report references key literature on building performance, overheating risks, and thermal comfort standards.

INTRODUCTION AND
PRESENTATION SUMMARY
 This project paper is conducted at the Gateway House Building
in De Montfort University which is located in Leicester city.
 Actually, this dissertation is aimed at assessing the measurement
of the thermal comfort using a sensor known as the HOBO
pendant.
 The temperature recordings obtained from this device will be
employed to analyze the risks which are caused by the
overheating of this building during the summertime

 The various factors which control the thermal comfort are: the temperature, humidity,
ventilation, design of the building and other things like age, fitness, individual qualities
as well as the type of work done by the people [3].
 The meaning of comfortable environment is that it is neither too hot nor too cold.
Legally also the temperature must be under control and within adequate limits.
 The risk can be assessed considering various factors like for health and safety of the
individuals.

BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH
PROBLEMS
 There has been a serious problem of housing in the United Kingdom
due to changes in the policies which controls the constructions in the
UK for the past years.
 But during the years between the 1970s to about 1980s, there was a
mushroom of buildings in this region to help meet the higher demand
of the houses due to a higher increase in population for this region [2].
 The government halt the constructions and make the already
constructed buildings to be privatized. Such action then resulted in
few social buildings present in the region, and with the few buildings,
the cost of renting houses became very high [5] .

 Basically, in the UK the summertime temperature effect was highly
experienced during the year 1990s´summertime.
 The heatwaves of the summertime of the year 2003 in Europe
resulted to about 2800 lives lost only in the United Kingdom and this
accounted for about 18 per cent of the total deaths where the mean
temperature was just 190C.
 Although, the available dwelling is adjusted to help in
accommodating the temperature changes there is a higher fear that
the installed Air conditioning will be highly common in the Gateway
building during summertime.

AIM OF THE DISSERTATION
 The aim of this dissertation is basically to measure the thermal comfort of the Gateway
house building in Leicester.
 Basically the thermal comfort measurement is done using a device known as the HOBO
pendant.

OBJECTIVES
 The objective is the investigation of the Thermal Comfort and
Overheating risk in University Building during summer times.
 The primary data collection has been done by installing the Hobo
Pendants at various locations in the building and through the survey
forms from different people regarding their thermal comfort.

KEY LITERATURE
 The level of thermal satisfaction in the building is a factor of the
amount of the space available in the same building.
 And this is manipulates the general wellbeing as well as the feeling
of gratification of the dwellers in the same building.
 The reason for the construction of every house is to give the dwellers
favourable surrounding. Most dwellers in most building in United
Kingdom have been showing a lot of complain in disturbance and
discomfort after analysing the new building in this region.

 There are individual as well as the environmental consideration to help determine if a
room is thermally inhabitable.
 The best way to determine if the room or a building is overheating is not just by
checking at the recorded temperature but to check the reactions of the dwellers in the
room.
 If the dwellers complains of the discomfort during their stay in these buildings then we
can conclude that the room or the building is overheating and it is does not show
thermal comfort.

POTENTIAL FINDINGS
 The temperature measurement in the Gateway house building in
Leicester we can check at what degree was the building overheating.
 The overheating of the Gateway house building does not guarantee
the building to be thermally uncomfortable. But rather the complaint
received from the dwellers or the room.
 And as seen above the room can thermally uncomfortable when the
staff in the room complains thus the thermal comfort is a perceived
act of the dwellers of any room

 The higher temperatures recorded during this time was anticipated
since the summertime occurs around July to August in United
Kingdom.
 From the results which were taken for 2019 summertime Gateway
house building recorded a mean temperature which was around 240C
for all the temperature recorded using the HOBO pendant device [4] .

 From the graphs plotted using the HOBOware computer program the pattern of the
graphs can be vividly seen and the average temperature can be seen [1] .
 Due to the global warming there is anticipation of increased average temperature
during for example in 2007 summertime the average temperature was 15.30C while
during 2009 summertime the average temperature 16.40C.

FUTURE WORK
 For the future work there need to be some improvement of thermal comfort in a
building, several measures which should be adopted.
 They are – using window blinds which reflects the solar energy, using window film
which reflects the solar energy, use of ceiling fan, use of movable air conditioners
( mobile ACs ), installing Acs.

 Through using proper ventilation , using advanced systems for insulating, using
replacement window, using Brise Solaire, by enhancing the already available
ventilation ( natural) and by using comfort cooling techniques ( like circulation of cold
water under the floor through the room for lowering the temperature or by using chilled
beams).
 Vacations may be provided in the duration when there is larger risk of overheating in
the University Building [6] .

References
 [1] Lomas KJ, Giridharan R. Thermal comfort standards, measured internal temperaturesand thermal
resilience to climate change of free-running buildings:a case-study of hospital wards. Building and
Environment 2011;55:57e72.
 [2] Mavrogianni A, Davies M, Wilkinson P, Pathan A. London housing and climatechange: impact on
comfort and health e preliminary results of a summeroverheating study. Open House International Journal
2010;35(2):49e58.
 [3] Oikonomou E, Davies M, Mavrogianni A, Biddulph P, Wilkinson P,Kolokotroni M. Modelling the
relative importance of the urban heat islandand the thermal quality of dwellings for overheating in
London. Building andEnvironment 2012;57:223e38.
 [4] Wei S, Jones R, de Wilde P. Driving factors for occupant-controlled space heating in residential
buildings. Energ Buildings,2014; 70, 36-44.
 [5] Jones RV, Fuertes A, Lomas KJ. The socio-economic, dwelling and appliance related factors affecting
electricity consumption in domestic buildings. Renew SustEnerg Rev, 2015; 43, 901-17.
 [6] Jones RV, Lomas K.J. Determinants of high electrical energy demand in UK homes: Socio-economic
and dwellingcharacteristics. Energ Buildings, 2015; 101, 24-34.