SEDA / EAA Edinburgh Green Building Seminar:

Healthy Passive Buildings: Reality and Lessons from Practice

Cost: SEDA Members and EAA Members: £20

Non-members: £30

SEDA and EAA invite you to an afternoon to discuss and address how problems of polluted internal environments in low energy buildings can arise, and what can be done to address this. As we try to make our buildings to be highly air-tight to reduce energy consumption, are we making our interiors bad for us and the fabric of the structure? Is it something that can be managed, and are there ways to achieve both?

The seminar brings together a group of key architects, engineers and constructors, researchers and teachers, who have been working to understand the issues in projects in Scotland. Their presentations will include:

• The results of surveys of air quality in new low energy housing in Scotland, highlighting particular issues and lessons that need to be learnt
• Research on best practice design guidance and innovative ventilation systems
• Strategies for specification and design to maximize air quality in passive and low energy buildings
• Lessons from contractors involved in passive design standard projects

You will have the chance to ask presenters questions, and discuss possible ways forward. Light refreshments and drinks will be served.

Speakers:

Sam Foster

Sam is the principal of Sam Foster Architects, a practice specialising in ecological design and a focus specifically on creating truly green buildings and sustainable spaces.  Sam is currently working on a Passivhaus project that is on site in Aberdeenshire and (when at Gaia Architects) was project architect for Plummerswood, a certified Passivhaus constructed from Brettstapel.

Janice Foster CEng MCIBSE, MSc Arch, BEng (Hons), CEPH

Janice is an Environmental Services Engineer, and holds an MSc in Advanced Environment and Energy Studies from the Graduate School of the Environment at the Centre for Alternative Technology. She is a chartered engineer and qualified Passive House designer with eight years of experience of designing mechanical building services for sustainable award winning projects in Scotland. Janice now works as a researcher at the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU) in Glasgow, where her current work focuses on the performance gap identified through building performance evaluation (BPE) and post occupancy evaluation on new and existing dwellings.

Professor Sandy Halliday Liddell

Sandy is a chartered engineer & Principal of Gaia Research, which she founded (1995) to develop sustainable solutions for the built environment. Sandy’s first degree in Engineering Design & Appropriate Technology (1982- 1985) focussed on socially & environmentally responsible engineering. She initially worked in the design of socially useful products and moved into the building sector as a research manager to develop & disseminate information on passive design, resource efficient & clean technologies, healthy buildings, & benign construction processes, products & materials.

She is a specialist advisor for clients, architectural & engineering practices, offering real time guidance on strategies for achieving affordable sustainable buildings & places at all stages from briefing & specification to tendering, handover, operation & post-occupancy evaluation. Her work extends to research, policy, brief development, community consultation, inter-disciplinary education & development of tools to support design & delivery.

She was Visiting Professor of Engineering Design for Sustainable Development in the School of Architecture, University of Strathclyde until 2008 and is now Visiting Lecturer Energy, Environment & Sustainable Development - Oslo International Summer School. Her practical experience is well documented in research publications and in her Code of Practice for Buildings & their Services (1994), The Green Guide to the Architects Job Book (1999), Sustainable Construction (2008) and The Sustainability Guide to the Plan of Work 2013 (2016)

Mark Shields, Stewart and Shields

Mark is a Director of Stewart and Shields, a long established contractor based in Helensburgh, who have worked extensively with John Gilbert Architects and other firms on a number of low energy and passive standard projects, including the A’Chrannag housing in Rothesay, regarded at the time as one of the most energy efficient buildings in Europe.

Chris Antoniou, Architect, John Gilbert Architects

Chris has over ten years’ practical experience including retrofit and newbuild social housing from £5m to £40m. He has particular experience of mainstream and wheelchair-accessible design, Housing for Varying Needs and Designing for Dementia. He is currently working closely with Stewart & Shields as a design advisor on a Passivhaus social housing development for Shettleston Housing Association in Glasgow