CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) has published a new guide which aims to provide a greater understanding and better prediction of overheating in commercial buildings.
TM52: The limits of thermal comfort: avoiding overheating in European buildings was published yesterday (9 July) on the online Knowledge Portal. CIBSE is also set to release another guide entitled TM49: Probabilistic design summer years for London.

The publications offer information to help avoid uncomfortable conditions for occupants and support the existing publication KS16: How to manage overheating in building, which gives guidance for building managers and owners about the causes of overheating and how to mitigate it.

Lead author of the Guide TM52, Fergus Nicol, said: 'Overheating has become a major problem in building design. The rising cost of energy combined with global climate change has reduced the options available for building comfortable, low-energy buildings.'

He continued: 'Research has been directed towards methods for increasing indoor winter temperatures but this can lead to lightweight, highly insulated buildings that respond poorly in the summer. To assess this further, CIBSE responded by forming the Overheating Task Force.'

The CIBSE Overheating Task Force explored what is needed from building designers, service systems, ventilation and facilities management in order to maintain comfortable living and working conditions, especially in the summer months. Occupant comfort is particularly important as it directly impacts productivity and health which in turn affects employers.

For more information go to http://cibse.org/