Perceived barriers to natural ventilation in offices.

The paper describes the results of a Pan-European survey carried out on identifying thebarriers that restrict the implementation of natural or simple fan-assisted ventilation systems inthe design of new office-type buildings and in the refurbishment of existing such buildings. Thesurvey was part of the NatVent (TM) project carried out in seven central and northern Europeancountries with moderate and cold climates.The barriers were identified through an in-depth study with structured interviews based onquestionnaires among leading designers and decision makers: architects, consultant engineers,contractors, developers, owners and governmental decision makers responsible for regulationsand standards.On average the interviewees expect an increase in the future use of natural ventilation in officebuildings. The survey also identified a lack of knowledge and experience on specially designednatural ventilation. In addition, the results showed that there is currently, a lack of informationon natural ventilation in standards and guidelines and also a lack of case studies of theperformance of office buildings with natural ventilation. Furthermore, there is a significantrequirement for simple tools, which can be used to design for natural ventilation, in particular,calculation rules, and easy-to-use computer programs.