Knauf Insulation Gathers Global Experts to Discuss Closing the Gap Between Building Design and Reality

Online, March 26, 2012 (Newswire.com) - With the 2020 deadline fast approaching for near-zero energy buildings across Europe, Knauf Insulation is flagging a critical issue: many buildings do not perform as designed. Working together with experts and policy makers from different sections of the building chain, Knauf Insulation hopes to pave the way forward to ensure we can deliver buildings that work in practice.

Delivering near-zero energy buildings that perform as expected in reality and not simply in design is essential to the entire building industry from energy efficiency improvements to policy implementation. Studies carried out by Knauf Insulation as well as leading universities point out that there is a significant gap between real performance and designed performance.

The need to build things right

"The large gap between design and real performance is unacceptable. There is a need to develop our understanding of what is going wrong to tailor solutions to address the performance issues. Taking it further, we want to make sure everyone is aware of the vital need to get things built right and that there is momentum from all corners of the industry to make this happen," said Tony Robson, CEO Knauf Insulation.

The gap between actual building performance and what was originally designed is something that the academic and scientific community have been working on for several years, and as such Knauf Insulation is taking the initiative to address this issue from an industry standpoint. Using its extensive network, Knauf Insulation will invite experts from around the world to a symposium, the Knauf Insulation Reality Check, to discuss tackling the building performance issue as a whole.

"We know now that the problem exists and we aren't afraid to say this. One of the key elements of our event is developing knowledge around building physics; knowledge that will support the development of systems and solutions that the building chain will need to deliver near-zero energy buildings," added Tony Robson.

A critical piece of the energy efficiency puzzle

As thermal performance becomes a major selling point for buildings, ensuring that real performance matches design performance will become critical. Building owners, investors and governments need to know that the investments we make are actually delivering the savings that are expected. To do this, we need to get to the bottom of the problem and develop robust solutions. Knauf insulation is committed to doing both," added Frederic Delcuve, Head of Building Science at Knauf Insulation.