Refurbishment of UK school buildings: challenges of improving energy performance using BIM

UK Schools are part of the existing buildings whose operational carbon must be reduced to meet the government target of reducing carbon emissions to 80% by 2050. State funding for refurbishment is the most feasible option using two routes: Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) which is restricted to improving the physical aspects of school facilities; and Salix Energy Efficiency Fund (SEEF) aimed at energy/equipment retrofit measures. Although the use of BIM technology (underpinned by the government soft-landing (GSL) framework) together with the use of energy modelling/simulation tools have become integral to making buildings more energy efficient, they are constrained by lack of adoption. This study used primary and secondary data to investigate the effectiveness of contemporary BIM and energy simulation technologies in refurbishment of existing school buildings. Secondary data collected from 10 case studies of schools that benefitted from SEEF was supported by primary data from survey questionnaire of 126 professionals involved in refurbishment. Results showed that: (a) CIF and SEEF ought to operate in synergy due to the interaction of a building's physical envelope with heat transfer and energy used by equipment and systems; (b) refurbishment professionals are not fully adopting BIM which in turn affects managing the buildings in their operational phase; and (c) some schools are not getting technical advice on how to optimise the funds they receive from SEEF leading to non-optimal investment. Recommendations provided include: extensive training on BIM and GSL to heads of schools; upskilling of professionals on using building pathology techniques that are compatible with BIM together with COBie and NBS Toolkit; advise government agencies to reconcile the purpose of CIF and SEEF for carbon reduction solution in schools.

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