This paper presents the application of Internet of Things (IoT) Technology and Building Energy Management System (BEMS) within the Marylebone Campus of the University of Westminster, located in central London, to improve the environmental performance of the existing building as well as enhance the learning experience on energy and sustainability. Sixty IoT sensors connected to minicomputers were planned to be deployed within three floors of the building to continuously measure the real-time environmental parameters, such as dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, illuminance level, carbon dioxide, and sound levels. Experimental workshops were also arranged with undergraduate and post-graduate students at their classrooms using IoT sensors, portable Bluetooth sensors and online questionnaires to increase awareness of the effect of environmental and behavioural changes on energy saving through real-time visualisation. Users’ subjective feedback on their workplace was also collected through Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) questionnaire surveys. The results show the effectiveness of IoT systems and BEMS in supplying the building users and management with high-resolution, low-cost data acquisition systems highlighting the existing challenges and future scopes. The study also documents the process and the improvement in students’ awareness of environmental and energy performance of their building through IoT data visualizations and POE.

This paper investigated the spatial delight and environmental performance of the open spaces and two selected apartments in the modernist buildings at Golden Lane Estate built after the 2nd World War, between 1952 and 1961. This estate is a Grade II listed, high density, low cost housing complex designed by three young architects: Peter Chamberlin, Geoffrey Powell and Christof Bon. It was built over a bombed site and well embraced the post-war modern architecture ethos, environmental considerations and inclusion of social facilities and landscaped communal spaces. Selected communal open spaces and two apartments in different building blocks with similar attributes were chosen for this study. However, one apartment has been refurbished with internal insulation and secondary glazing for improving the comfort conditions. Through fieldwork, which included subjective observation of the spatial quality of both outdoor and indoor spaces, on-site monitoring and interview of the building occupants, first-hand information on the environmental and comfort conditions inside the apartments were obtained. Through performance based theoretical analysis, archival research and observations, the spatial quality and comfort conditions in the apartments and their energy demand were critically assessed. The research findings indicate that the design of the communal outdoor spaces in the Golden Lane Estate were well thought through and the spacing between the building blocks responded well to the requirements of spatial delight, solar and daylight access and outdoor environmental comfort. Through selective enhancement of the thermal property of the building envelope, the original naturally ventilated and well day-lit living environments were maintained while energy demand was reduced by 30%, and the overall comfort level was significantly improved. This paper presents the feasible strategies to tackle the environmental challenges in the post-war Grade II listed residential buildings in the UK.

«Today, 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and 900 million lack access to clean cooking facilities» (IEA, 2019). With this premise, the paper will explain the research agenda of the African Off-grid Housing project on how to design and build off-grid and affordable housing solutions for Sub-Saharan Africa. This ongoing project is being developed at the School of Architecture and Cities of the UoW with the support of the GCRF.The research agenda is based on the idea of producing innovative knowledge able to bridge traditional and advanced design strategies as well as construction technologies in response to the urgent need of sustainable and performative housing in Sub-Saharan Africa.