Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance

The Sustainable Traditional Building Alliance (STBA) will share expertise in improving pre-1919 buildings and will support companies through the Green Deal, which aims to improve energy efficiency in the UK properties.  Steve Geary, Skills Strategy Director at CITB-ConstructionSkills said: “With the Government’s Green Deal policy due in 2012, the STBA will add value by ensuring that the opportunity is taken to integrate the different needs of traditional buildings in the drive to create a genuinely sustainable built environment in a cost-effective, safer and more durable way.”

The STBA will target key areas such as the energy consumption of buildings and their occupants, the health of occupants, the well-being and durability of the building fabric and their impacts on communities. It will also emphasise the skills required to maintain traditional buildings and energy efficiency over their lifetime, as well as making them greener.

The STBA NEEDS YOU!

The Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance is carrying out a survey of existing research in the field of the performance of UK traditional buildings (where traditional is defined as pre-1919, solid wall buildings constructed of permeable materials). The idea behind this project is to conduct a relatively comprehensive review of what research is currently available to inform our understanding of the performance of traditional buildings. This knowledge will then be used in two ways;

1. to increase awareness of the research that is currently available amongst building professionals and others
2. to identify the 'gaps' in the field in order to focus future research endeavours, particularly with regard to schemes designed to improve the energy performance of this class of buildings.

Are you aware of any research work in this field?

This may be work on thermal and/or hygrothermal performance, moisture behaviour, air infiltration, fabric performance and degradation, indoor air quality, energy profiling, human health and behaviour issues, amongst many other subjects.

Any references to the sources of this work or even copies of relevant texts (along with source information) would be welcomed by the STBA to inform their research.

If you can help, please contact Dr Caroline Rye -  c.rye@phonecoop.coop