Improving the quality management systems for energy-efficient social housing projects

Buildings are acknowledged to play a large role in the current energy use across the EU. It is regarded that buildings are responsible for up to 40% of the overall energy consumption and thus for 40% of the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe(BPIE, 2011). Moreover, there is a strong body of knowledge that indicates the existence of a mismatch between the buildings energy performances as predicted at design stage and as measured once the building is in operation, the performance gap (Zero Carbon Hub, 2014, de Wilde, 2014, Menezes et al., 2012, Carbon Trust, 2011).Within this context, the role of construction quality management has been acknowledged as one of the possible causes contributing to the performance gap. Recent studies claim that quality defects are important drivers to poor building performance, especially in respect to thermal behaviour (Johnston et al., 2015, Taylor et al., 2014, Bell et al., 2005). Defects in buildings' fabric, most of them being hidden defects, lead to undesired air permeability, thermal bypass and thermal bridging, and consequently to excessive heat loss and unpredicted energy consumption.The overall aim of this ongoing research is to explore quality management practices and inspection techniques used in new-built and retrofit residential building projects and their possible influence on the thermal performance of buildings. Considering the significant efforts and care placed by Social Housing Associations to provide energy efficient housing to help their residents to reduce energy bills, carbon emissions and improve their comfort levels, the research particularly focuses on social housing developments. This paper’s ambition is to identify, through case studies analysis, areas of improvement in the quality assurance procedures used by Social Housing Associations in the UK, which might have an influence on the final building thermal performance.