Public Funding for Build Test Solutions Limited

For meaningful impact on business as usual building management and maintenance, performance measurements must be able to identify if a building is performing as expected and crucially: if not, why not? This project will answer that requirement, building upon a suite of methods to deliver an integrated service providing invaluable diagnostic capabilities with actionable feedback and insights. It is anticipated that this new diagnostic package will provide a one-stop solution to deliver against the growing range of regulatory and guidance requirements which are starting to be put into place, such as BS40101, PAS2035 and anticipated changes to Building Regulations. At present, there is no diagnostic package which delivers a joined up solution to all the measurement requirements in these standards, which we believe is driving a lack of uptake in building performance measurements.

Build Test Solutions, in partnership with Loughborough University and SOAP Retrofit, are working to develop, validate and implement a highly scalable mould risk indicator for homes. Designed as a web hosted algorithm to sit alongside our existing SmartHTC thermal performance measurement solution, the proposition is one that may be called by APIs and readily integrated into a wide range of existing in-home devices, products and/or assessment services. Exposure to mould increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma, and can also affect the immune system. Respiratory illnesses are one of the largest causes of death in the UK, with the UK Office for National Statistics listing them as a cause of death for more than 35,000 people per year between 2016-18, with the poor housing specifically said to cost the NHS £865m per annum. Although never directly measured and assessed at a national scale, it is estimated that as many as 50% of homes suffer from black mould growth issues, and/or condensation. Our innovative system will provide invaluable insight on the risk of mould and condensation in owner-occupied, tenanted and care homes alike. Coupled with our innovative SmartHTC system which measures the thermal performance of the building fabric, accurate recommendations for retrofit and improvement can also be made. This includes; upgrades or provision of ventilation systems, installation of insulation, and/or changes in user behaviour. We spend 90% of our time in buildings and we deserve them to be free from mould and other potential health issues at all times. Our solution will facilitate continuous identification of potential condensation and mould issues (often before they occur), and provide targeted mitigation recommendations. We therefore enable long-term protection of building occupants and the buildings themselves, critical to ensure the UK prospers in a post-COVID world.

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"Our innovation, Heat3D, is a new technology for quickly and cheaply measuring heat loss from buildings, enabling improvements in construction quality, performance and specification of insulation upgrades. Central to increasing both the quality and performance of UK construction is in establishing means of robust feedback loops. Visualising, measuring, quantifying and recording as-built performance characteristics and then ensuring these insights are captured and fed back into the repeated delivery of projects. Through the use of readily accessible technology, this project aims to develop a practical means of assessing the as-built in-situ thermal performance of critical building fabric elements such as floors, walls and roofs. The applications for this technology will cover residential and non-residential, both new build construction as well as both pre and post refurbishment; enabling U-values and other thermal characteristics to be viewed, quantified and reported. This digitally-enabled means of performance measurement, management and feedback will in turn contribute significantly to reduced costs for future projects on the grounds of better refined specifications, greater supply chain accountability as well as reduced whole-life costs and carbon intensity through better construction quality and performance."

Build Test Solutions Ltd (BTS) designs, develops and promotes airtightness testing and performance verification solutions in the built environment sector. Our first product offering is the PULSE air test, a compressed air based alternative to the blower door fan method. It works by subjecting an enclosure to a known volume change and measuring the pressure response. It is fast, low skill, undisruptive, robust and highly accurate in measuring the air tightness of a variety of different size enclosures under a rage of conditions. A market opportunity has been identified in specialist environments where enclosure integrity is safety and quality critical - clean rooms, containment labs and large refrigeration enclosures. In the cleanroom sector (semiconductor manufacturing, pharma, biotech, medical, life sciences, aerospace, optics, military) controlled and defined leakage is critical to efficient and effective performance. Similarly it is critical that bio-containment rooms and enclosures used for the manipulation of pathogenic organisms (animal, human, and transgenic) offer effective containment. Large refrigeration facilities are another opportunity, similar in nature but where energy and financial savings are significant drivers. PULSE presents a technology platform offering a non-invasive, quick and cost effective solution to leak testing such environments throughout an asset life-cycle that simply doesn’t currently exist. The objectives of this feasibility study are to further research the market opportunity, evaluate technical feasibility and to develop and field-test a new tailored PULSE system design.