A ‘Fabric First’ approach to high-performance buildings

A ‘Fabric First’ approach to high-performance buildings

The energy used to heat UK buildings is significant, and so are the related carbon emissions, with 28% of that from UK buildings coming from space heating.

As the UK building stock is renewed and grows, there is an opportunity to mitigate the climate change impact of heating buildings through good design and high quality construction. This relies on building professionals having a strong grasp of the thermal behaviour of buildings and their constituent elements, and using this to develop robust designs, constructed to a high standard.

We have produced an infographic which looks at some key areas of building thermal performance, and highlights the relative impact of building form, choice of construction materials, detailing, and other elements on which a successful low energy building depends.