Shaun Fernando speaks at Healthy Buildings Conference | 10th Sep 2009

London based Shaun Fernando, part of our global Energy team, has been invited to the prestigious Healthy Buildings Conference in Syracuse, New York, this September, to discuss the findings of a recent research report on comparative ventilation systems under global warming scenarios.

Set up as a forum for discussion, the Healthy Buildings Conference looks at the collaborative work of professionals and delegates from all over the world, in the fields of indoor air quality, building physics, health sciences, public health policy, building services engineering, architecture and building design. The conference gives specialists the opportunity to learn and discuss the latest in innovative research and technologies in making healthy, comfortable, energy efficient and sustainable buildings.

At only 24, Shaun Fernando is one of the youngest specialists in attendance at this prestigious global event. Having graduated in Physics from University College London, Shaun then stayed on to Master in Environmental Design and Engineering from the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies. Shaun's area of expertise has earned him a place at HB2009 to discuss some of the findings of his dissertation:

'I was lucky to have had the opportunity to use my dissertation findings for the paper I submitted to the Healthy Buildings Conference this year - it's a real honour to be invited alongside so many established specialists and professionals in the field'.

It was on the strength of this piece of research that he was invited to attend the conference, as one of only a few hundred global attendees. Shaun's research investigated three newly-built Central London schools that employed natural, mixed-mode and mechanical ventilation strategies for the provision of summertime thermal comfort. The operations of the respective ventilation strategies were modelled with TAS for overheating using a medium-high climate change scenario as defined by UKCIP02 for the present day, the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s. His results showed that the use of cross-ventilation and split-duct systems, in conjunction with night cooling could prolong natural ventilation strategies until at least the 2050s.

'Schools are an ideal proving ground because of their unique occupancy profile and because they are the living experiments in which the next generation of leaders will first be exposed to sustainable design.'

At WSP, much of Shaun's professional work involves looking at the built environment in the context of sustainability, an issue reflected in his academic research:

'Essentially the core question I was trying to answer was whether it was possible to provide a comfortable indoor environment, in high density schools, by using low energy ventilation strategies and whether these would cope under the threat of global warming.' 'The work that WSP has done in green buildings and informing Government policy on HVAC efficiency is all a part of that.'

For more information, visit: http://www.hb2009.org