Submit a Manuscript to the Journal

Architectural Engineering and Design Management

For a Special Issue on

Building Performance Gaps and the Decarbonisation Challenge

Abstract deadline
14 October 2022

Manuscript deadline
31 March 2024

Cover image - Architectural Engineering and Design Management

Special Issue Editor(s)

Dr Obuks A. Ejohwomu, The University of Manchester, UK
[email protected]

Prof. David Edwards, Birmingham City University, UK
[email protected]

Prof. Abimbola Windapo, University of Cape Town, South Africa
[email protected]

Dr Felix Kin Peng Hui, The University of Melbourne
[email protected]

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Building Performance Gaps and the Decarbonisation Challenge

The internal thermal performance of buildings affects the health and well-being of occupants (Lomas & Porritt, 2017), resulting in illnesses and in extreme scenarios, premature mortality. For example, in the UK heat-related deaths have risen in recent years with more than 2,500 deaths recorded during the 2020 heatwave (Committee on Climate Change, 2019). The committee further estimates that these heat-related deaths are set to more than triple by 2050 if policies are not implemented to address overheating in buildings. Additionally, as the number of people working from home increases, especially due to the effects of black swan events such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Bouziri et al., 2020), the internal thermal performance of buildings will impact the productivity of individuals and businesses (Baglee et al., 2012; Too et al., 2022).

Although building designers use energy modelling tools to assess the internal thermal performance of buildings, there is an immense gap between the predicted and actual internal thermal performance of buildings (Lomas & Porritt, 2017). This is because steady-state models cannot fully capture the complexity of a dynamic problem. Further, the results of most modelling studies are influenced by the chosen weather file, internal gains and occupancy profile, which may be significantly different from actual occupancy (Lomas & Porritt, 2017). Inefficient internal thermal performance can also significantly contribute to excessive energy consumption and concomitant anthropogenic emissions – thus, exacerbating global climatic change. It is against this backdrop that this special issue (SI) seeks to examine the latest scientific developments in measuring, modifying or controlling the internal thermal performance of buildings.

Specifically, this SI welcomes contributions to adopt the latest Industry 4.0 innovations including aspects such as:

  • digital design using building information modelling (BIM);
  • thermal performance prediction using artificial intelligence or machine learning approaches;
  • decarbonisation studies;
  • simulation case studies;
  • technologies applied to reduce anthropogenic emissions; and
  • new theory development or other such research that embodies advanced digital technology in practical and impactful solutions.