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This study evaluates the energy performance of a residential tower block (RTB) development in Northern Cyprus in providing thermal comfort for its occupants. Severe summer temperature conditions in the coastal city of Famagusta includes significant daily oscillations in air temperature (14°C-45°C) and high levels of solar radiation, which\ud contributes to the overheating of thermally inefficient building envelopes. Notably, 43% of the domestic buildings in Northern Cyprus are RTBs. As could be expected in residential buildings located in a hot and humid climate the cooling and heating comprise the largest part of the total energy consumption (73%). The aim of this is to investigate the applicability of passive design elements for the case study using three representative residential tower blocks (RTBs) each representing a different orientation (south-west, south-east and north-west). The research adopts a ‘quantitative’ research design; primarily building performance evaluation using modelling and simulation. The selected three RTBs are modelled using Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) software where extensive dynamic thermal simulations have\ud been produced to test passive design measures applied to improve thermal comfort and energy performance. This paper presents an analysis of the thermal performance of the three RTBs before different retrofit scenarios are applied to optimize the buildings energy performance and occupants’ thermal comfort. According to the results of the dynamic thermal simulation, cooling energy consumption saving of around 81% are achieved. The findings demonstrate the necessity to consider passive design strategies for effective retrofitting of existing RTB developments in Northern Cyprus.

In recent decades, efficient design of office buildings has\ud become increasingly important due to its direct impact on\ud occupants’ health, wellbeing, and productivity. Research\ud found that issues within the indoor environment of the\ud workplace, such as poor ventilation, lighting, and high\ud levels of harmful gases and air borne particles has a\ud significant influence on reduced productivity. This study\ud aims to investigate the issues of overheating and propose\ud strategies for retrofit of a modern office building in\ud London as a case study. To achieve the research aim; a\ud quantitative research methodology is adopted comprising\ud three methods of data collection and analysis; a survey\ud questionnaire, indoor data monitoring, and dynamic\ud thermal modelling and simulation. The results show a\ud significant improvement in the building thermal\ud performance by retrofitting the building roof envelope\ud where the indoor air temperature reduced from 29.3 to\ud 26.9°C hence potential improvement of occupants’\ud thermal comfort.

This research investigates potential passive design strategies for improving the thermal performance of existing residential tower block (RTB) in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. In a Mediterranean island that experiences hot and humid temperatures throughout the year, residential buildings need to be adaptable to the climate in order to improve the thermal comfort of occupants. The current housing stock includes a prevalence of high density, medium and low-rise residential tower block developments without implementing any insulation materials. The objective of this study is to develop and test passive cooling design strategies into retrofitting ill-performing residential tower blocks in the coastal city of Famagusta. As an initial step, the performance of a case study was modelled and simulated via employing Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES-VE) software add-ins Apache-Sim Dynamic Thermal Simulation. The results from the base case model were analyzed according to the adaptive comfort of CIBSE Technical Memorandum 52 guidelines: The Limits of Thermal Comfort - Avoiding Overheating in European Buildings. The spaces studied (living room and bedrooms) within the case study sample flats were observed to exceed the acceptable limits of thermal comfort; particularly living rooms with this zone exceeding the upper limit for overheating by up to 9 hours daily. The main reasons for the problematic thermal performance were identified as resulting from: infiltration through the building fabric, the lack of sufficient ventilation through the living spaces and excessive heat gains through the large areas of glazing. The internal operating temperatures of the simulated flats remain high throughout the day and night in a typical summer day, ranging from a maximum of 36.5 ̊ C to a minimum of 28.5 ̊ CThe study also analyses the effectiveness of two basic passive cooling strategies (shading and night ventilation) of 3 sample flats sharing the same orientation, and floor plan but located at different levels within the RTBs. Furthermore, the implications in the seasonal cooling and assessment when considering the adoption of climate-related set-point temperatures (i.e. adaptive comfort approach), beyond the assumed common standard, are also evaluated.