Scott, J R (2004) Optimising the relationship between passive solar design of new housing and the economics of construction and land value. PhD thesis, Robert Gordon University, UK.
Abstract
The focus of mass housing developments built by speculative developers in the UK has broadly been on maximising density whilst retaining a predominantly detached housing form. This economically led strategy, aimed at maximising sale values, can conflict with the aim of radically reducing environmental impacts. For example by creating very closely spaced, deep, narrow frontage houses, which may not optimise solar design. Whilst a variety of products have been developed to enable design professionals to model and assess the environmental performance (especially in energy use terms) of individual buildings, there are currently no tools for modelling the performance of whole developments, based on variables such as site layout, denSity, orientation, topography, etc. USing passive solar design as an exemplar for sustainable development offers the opportunity to improve the environmental, spatial and aesthetic performance of speculative developments. This thesis describes the development of a tool for planners and developers to optimise the passive solar characteristics of housing developments through an environmental site assessment, encouraging the use of basic environmental techniques early in the design process. In this thesis the characteristics of passive solar design are ascertained and a tool is developed that can show, quantitatively and visually, the savings that passive solar design can achieve compared to more 'standard' modern speculative developments. This thesis is one small step in the development of a tool to encourage sustainable design through the entire design process from an early stage. It has used passive solar design of mass, speculative housing in the north east of Scotland as a starting point for a tool which, it is hoped, can in future encompass wider aspects of the complex field of sustainable design.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Edge, M; Martin, P and Laing, R A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | design process; environmental impact; housing development; passive solar design; site layout; sustainable development; UK |
| Index terms: | planner, site layout, sustainable design, topography, savings, aesthetic, passive solar design, housing development, energy use, housing, design process, modelling, land, strategy, Scotland, density, environmental performance, sustainable development, environmental impact |
| Subjects: | health safety and environment, analytical methods, management, economic analysis, factor and component analysis, physical geography and landforms, environmental impact, real estate economics, energy systems, design process, design methods, construction type, profession, sustainability assessment, Geography, site logistics |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Sustainability, Health and Safety, Construction Technology, Geographical Context, Site Management, Urban Studies, Roles and Professions, Design Practice, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here