Building performance is the single most important thing for ALL buildings.

 

With poor building envelope performance, comes higher energy consumption. Simply installing more efficient heating and cooling systems does not address the root cause of energy inefficiency.

Air tightness impacts three out of the six key criteria in the ASHRAE performance measurement protocols, highlighting its importance for:

  • Indoor air quality
  • Occupant comfort
  • Energy efficiency
  • Building longevity

To illustrate, Building Performance comes from achieving the following:

  • Construction air tightness
  • Consistent insulation (with no thermal bridging and high build quality)
  • Energy or heat recovery ventilation systems (ERV/HRV)
  • Well-designed HVAC systems that are effectively integrated with the building envelope, including dampers located close to the building envelope.

 

Air tightness effects on a building

Building performance is difficult to model precisely, but the benefits of a high-performance building can be measured and observed in real-world scenarios. Accurate computer modelling is often limited due to complex, unpredictable physical phenomena, including:

 

  • Stack Effect DiagramStack effect:
    Taller buildings often experience greater performance penalties depending on the vertical connection between floors, the building’s height, and climate conditions. The location of leaks (top vs. bottom) influences how much conditioned air is lost through the chimney effect. In warm climates, the reverse stack effect can occur.

  • Wind effect:
    Air leakage caused by wind pressure and wind tunnels can severely degrade insulation performance through a process known as wind washing.

  • HVAC imbalance:
    Changes made to meet occupant needs during the building’s lifespan can result in imbalances that amplify stack and wind effects.

These dynamic effects make it extremely difficult to model building performance reliably using software alone.

Efficiency Matrix has experience in some of the largest commercial buildings in Australia and abroad. We specialise in build quality, during both design and construction, to ensure issues are addressed at the most cost-effective time.

We pride ourselves on getting results for our customers. Contact us for our capability statement. Visit other pages on our website regarding building airtightness and insulation consistency.

Getting results

Important tasks for enabling good building performance:

  • Building airtightness testing (blower door testing)
  • Review of the building design.
  • Constant building inspection for air barrier continuity and insulation consistency.

Presentation on Building performance