Speaking to an audience of over 1,000 building industry professionals, the four main theatres covered a range of topics under the theme of Design, Deliver, Perform.

CIBSE fellows set the scene for the day with a state of the industry discussion highlighting both the need for better communication between designers, owners and occupiers of buildings to speed up improvements in building performance, and the importance of adopting a security-minded approach to information sharing. 

Their core message was that operational performance, measured a year after a building is occupied, should be used as the basis for energy efficiency certification, rather than the performance models produced at design stage which are inevitably based on assumption rather than experience. With CIBSE due to contribute to discussion on proposed revisions to Part L, this will no doubt prove to be a subject for much debate.

Many of the sessions focused on the use of data – considering new technology for collecting and sharing information. The session on health and wellbeing looked at live research and current building studies that are establishing ways of determining the financial impact of high performance buildings, measuring the impact of factors such as air quality and daylight on cognitive performance.  

This session also touched on another theme – the availability of data. The ability of building occupants to broadcast their experience can have a significant impact on the value of a building – the example of students sharing their experience of living in overheating accommodation units was quoted – providing further compelling incentives for building owners and employers to focus on improving the indoor environment.

Not surprisingly, many sessions focused on the development of ever more accurate modelling and simulation processes, with CIBSE also presenting a work in progress summary of its own Energy Benchmarking initiative.

Turning to wider environmental issues, decarbonisation was a central theme, with one session focused on energy independence and the rapidly advancing development of buildings that produce their own energy – a fascinating solution to the energy generation crisis that offered an introduction to a session on the use of hydrogen as a fuel source, taking place on day two of the event.

Build2Perform Live continues today, November 28, with several sessions on digital design and the upskilling required to exploit it to the full.  Daylighting, façade engineering and the renovation of domestic, non-domestic and historic buildings are also included in the programme.