TSB: Fifteen further new building developments to undergo evaluation

As part of its four-year Building Performance Evaluation programme, the Technology Strategy Board is to fund fifteen more intensive environmental impact assessments of new developments, covering both domestic and non-domestic buildings.

The goal of these in-depth studies is to ensure that the construction industry as a whole is better placed to understand the performance of a range of different building types, design strategies, construction methods and occupancy patterns, and the relative contribution of various factors to the eventual overall performance of buildings.

The fifteen building projects consist of 5 domestic and 10 non-domestic studies.  The domestic projects are led by Blueprint General Partner Ltd, Hastoe Housing Association, Zero Carbon Hub (2 studies) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.

The non-domestic developments are led by: Kier Western, British Land Company Plc, The Royal Horticultural Society, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (2 developments), Mott MacDonald, Arup, East Midlands Sustainable Construction iNet, Gaia Research and ECD Architects.

The £8m Building Performance Evaluation competition provides full funding for evaluating the energy and sustainability performance of candidate buildings. It runs for two years with tranches of funding being made available at regular intervals.  The deadline for the next round of funding applications, for both domestic and non-domestic buildings, is 11th May 2011.