CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) has published a new edition of its Guide A, which provides guidance on the environmental design of buildings.

This new edition of the Guide is a comprehensive update on its predecessor, and includes the latest guidance on design for high quality building environments design.

Derrick Braham, chair of the Guide A steering committee, said: “The new Guide A represents CIBSE’s premier publication on environmental design in buildings, and stands on the shoulders of the work done in previous guides. It is a comprehensive review, which enables engineers to design comfortable, environmentally sustainable buildings using the foremost expertise in the field.

Technical director of CIBSE, Hywel Davies, said: “There has sometimes been an unfortunate tendency to treat comfort and sustainability as opposing requirements, and that achieving one means sacrificing the other.

“Designing a building is a fundamentally people-focussed activity, so even the most efficient building is still a failure if people don’t enjoy using it. However, building services associated with comfort such as heating, cooling and ventilation are often involved in poor building performance. The new Guide therefore sets out a framework to ensure design decisions are consistent with ecological aims.”