United Kingdom

With lower air leakage in modern homes, ventilation of homes has become more important than ever before. It seems however that we are getting it very wrong. A lack of ventilation can cause building sickness, with degradation of the physical building and also poor air quality which has a big impact on the occupants themselves. Our statistics show that designers and contractors are still not getting it right, leaving us with a generation of poorly ventilated housing stock.

Welcome to the 'Blue Pages'. This is where the Editorial Advisory Panel for Building Services Engineering Research and Technology publishes state-of-the-art articles on developments in building services engineering practice and research. The articles are very short, on one theme of current interest, and are edited by a guest editor rather than going through the longer refereeing process for conventional research papers. This is to encourage consultants and contractors to discuss their latest developments in a non-commercial manner.

This Newsletter released by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Natural Ventilation Group (NVG) Management Committee, aims to inform members and potential members of the work being undertaken by the Group to benefit the discipline of natural ventilation within CIBSE.

Contents include:

• Overheating corridors: Performance of mitigation actions measured;
• Using the new CIBSE design summer years to assess overheating in London;
• UK joins the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre.