Stroma Energy Assessors provide Overheating Analysis services, working with designers and developers to inform the design process at an early stage.
We offer simplified and CIBSE TM59 assessments for both dwellings and non-domestic buildings.
Overheating Risk Analysis
Our highly skilled team of Overheating Analysis assessors can offer you expert guidance on managing potential overheating risks in your building design, ensuring a more pleasant thermal environment for the building and its occupants. Working closely with your design team, we develop robust solutions that enhance performance and comply with assessment standards.
From high-rise buildings to high-sustainability projects, we have the expertise to formulate effective compliance strategies. If your specification doesn't meet the required limits, our seasoned assessors can provide helpful recommendations to address the issue, streamlining your submission to Building Control to keep your project on track.
We offer a range of Overheating Analysis standards and modelling procedures to identify overheating risks, including:
- Energy Statements
- SAP Calculations
- Achieving BREEAM credits for thermal control
What Causes Overheating in Buildings?
Changing environmental conditions, construction techniques, and behavioural factors have led to an increased need to consider mitigation measures for preventing overheating in buildings.
Although solvable in many cases, this is a problem that needs to be addressed at the earliest possible opportunity in the design process by undertaking an Overheating Analysis.
Factors which can cause overheating include:
- Rising temperatures
- Increased occupant densities
- Community heating pipework losses
- Lightweight building fabric
- Airtight construction
Overheating Simulations
Using leading-edge software, we can run computational simulations to predict internal temperatures resulting from the building design, occupant use, and local weather environment.
The ability to analyse, understand, and mitigate potential overheating issues before construction begins saves costs and ensures occupants remain comfortable in all conditions.
Benefits of Overheating Simulations:
- Quantify overheating risks throughout the building.
- Identify local hot spots to target design improvements.
- Analyse occupant comfort due to internal loads and external climate variables.
- Validate the effectiveness of the proposed design with accurate data analysis.
- Predict fan coil performance with dynamic simulations.
What is a CIBSE TM59 Assessment?
CIBSE TM59 is an Overheating Analysis tool developed by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). It provides a framework to assess the potential for summertime overheating in buildings, which can be used as part of a detailed building performance assessment.
The assessment uses measured and simulated data points to evaluate the air temperature, radiant temperature, and operative temperature of a building's space over time. From this, an Overheating Risk Index (ORI) value can be calculated to determine how likely it is for the space to experience thermal discomfort during hot weather events.
By utilising this tool, our Energy Assessors can identify and analyse any potential risks associated with your building design before construction, so your designers can make the necessary adjustments to ensure occupant comfort and energy efficiency goals are met.
Overheating Building Regulations
With the introduction of Approved Document O into the Building Regulations, most buildings where people sleep are required to have an Overheating Analysis carried out.
This calculation is designed to ensure that the building does not get too hot and become uncomfortable for occupants. To meet these requirements, it is often necessary to implement design strategies such as providing shading or improving ventilation or other methods of removing heat from the indoor environment to reduce the risk of overheating.
Passivhaus certification has also become a popular means of meeting these regulations as its stringent standards ensure that overheating is minimised.
