DESIGN GUIDES

Please find below the series of SEDA’s techincal design guides to key issues:

• Indoor Air Quality

• Sustainable Renovation

• Deconstruction

• Airtightness, and

• Toxic Chemical Reduction in Building

All are available to download for free, and the Sustainable Design Guide is available to buy as a paper copy (please go to the Shop). This is the newly revised second edition just out recently - updated by author Chris Morgan, which has had the following new information:

• Reflects changes in regulatory environment

• Updates indicative energy costs

• New section on climate adaptation

• Extended section on timber-framed walls

• Section on making homes "heat pump ready"

  The fundamental message remains unchanged - quality renovation, taking a holistic approach, can make our homes better both for the planet and for the wellbeing and health of their occupants.

The SEDA guides on Air Quality in Airtight Homes, developed for HEMAC, were launched in October 2021. The Designer’s Guide should be of interest to anyone interested in improving health within the home, but is particularly aimed at Architects, other designers and those responsible for providing and maintaining homes for others, such as private landlords, factors, council housing officers and those who work in social housing and broader healthcare. The User Guide is a shorter read, providing simpler information for occupants of homes with clear guidance on what they can do to improve the air quality of their home.

In 2004 SEDA was awarded a Sustainable Action Grant from the Sustainable Development Directorate of the Scottish Executive to undertake three ground-breaking Guides on design and detailing for more sustainable construction. You can download them for free by clicking on the links below.

Purchase physical copies of our Design Guides from the SEDA Shop

The Guides are aimed at mainstream commercial construction and should be useful for Architects, Developers, Contractors and others within the Construction Industry who wish to reduce the environmental damage associated with their projects. Details and Specifications may be downloaded covering five typical construction types, each of which has been carefully assessed by Cost Consultants and Insurability Assessors.

The first, completed in March 2005 offers guidance on design and detailing for deconstruction, to try to reduce at source the vast waste stream for which the construction industry is responsible.
 
The second, completed in March 2006 targets design and detailing for airtightness, to reduce the high levels of energy and costs wasted in typical construction.
 
The third, completed in April 2008, targets the use of chemicals in our built environment and offers guidance on design and detailing for toxic chemical reduction in buildings and avoid the perceived risks for those who are concerned.

The fourth guide, completed in 2018, offers guidance on improving homes for energy, health and the environment through sustainable renovation that aims for a balance between energy efficiency, the comfort and health of occupants, and the durability and condition of the building fabric.

The most recent twin guides to indoor air quality in airtight homes (Users’ and Designers’ Guides), take the lessons of the third and fourth guides, and presents the issues and solutions for maintaining a healthy internal environments in homes designed to minimise heat loss through air leakage, looking at issues of internal pollution, ventilation and more.