English

Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, is a leading cause of lung cancer and has the potential to increase significantly due to current renovation strategies. Understanding the factors influencing radon infiltration into buildings is vital. Radon flux into buildings is a highly dynamic process influenced by various factors. The current study analyses a historical time-series dataset to determine radon entry rates into buildings and identify statistical factors driving the radon flux based on meteorological, environmental, and building characteristics.

The increasing severity and duration of climate change is that extremes – notably heatwaves, increases the risk of human thermal stress in indoor environments where people spend most of their times. Recent field measurements have demonstrated significant overheating in the EU building stock in the EU, characterized by well-insulated and air-tight envelopes. This exposes vulnerable communities to increases mortality risks that is bound to only get worse with an ever-worsening climate warming.

The Renson One residential concept focusses on the building envelope and the mechanical installations to ensure a climate-adaptive and resilient design throughout the year. Passive, renewable and energy-efficient elements are combined to address the total indoor environment and energy consumption, based on integrated control mechanisms. The high potential of external shading and ventilative cooling was proved to limit overheating and cooling consumption. Adding manual control of the windows to the simulations is a challenge to better approach reality.  

The commitment to improving the energy efficiency of buildings by 2030, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, has been triggered by environmental challenges and the increasing scarcity of energy resources. To this end, European countries are adopting stricter regulations on building energy consumption, as illustrated by the EPB system in Belgium. 
Considering the increase in extreme weather events, the intensity and frequency of heatwaves in many regions of the world, it is essential that buildings are able to adapt to extreme events. 

The EIA EBC Annex 80 Resilient Cooling program has focused on bringing together and extending the knowledge on the resilience of buildings to overheating (Holzer, 2024).  In the context of the Annex 80 Resilient Cooling program a research project, Recover++, has been setup to define a new resilience indicator, based on the properties and behaviour of real-world building projects under extreme climatological condition and shocks, as heatwaves under current and future weather conditions.

The increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves highlight the necessity for resilient building design to reduce heat-stress-related discomfort and mortality among occupants. "Thermal resilience" refers to a building's capacity to endure thermal disruptions, maintain habitable conditions, and return to its intended state. This study aims to develop a thermal resilience indicator to make resilience an actionable concept for architects and HVAC engineers to assess and improve thermal resilience of buildings to overheating.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have expressed the need for practical ventilation guidelines to maintain acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ) in the public care sector, where vulnerable groups reside. The aim of this paper is to establish such guidelines dedicated to old and newly built psychological care homes and child day care centres in Flanders (Belgium). For each sector, a representative simulation model was designed in Modelica.

French regulation regarding residential ventilation dates from 1982. Almost every new residential buildings constructed since then are equipped with a mechanical ventilation system. 
For non-residential buildings, the regulation dates from 1979 and does not impose the installation of a ventilation system as a prescriptive requirement. Nevertheless, if air renewal relies only on windows opening, a significant windows area is necessary (according to the floor area) for the building to be considered compliant with the regulation. 
 

In Belgium, the requirements for ventilation in buildings can be found in national ventilation standards, national health regulation and in regional environmental regulations and EPB regulations (Energy Performance and Indoor Climate). In 2006 the latter regulations were introduced for the first time including mandatory requirements for ventilation.

This paper provides a background regarding building ventilation regulations and inspection requirements in Ireland. Ventilation requirements for new buildings are provided in the National Building Regulations, which apply to the whole of the Republic of Ireland.