Unit 4 Assignment 1: Human Comfort Community Building
BTEC Subsidiary Diploma in Construction & the Built Environment
Unit 4: Construction Science & Materials
Assignment 1: Human Comfort within Buildings Report
Student: Rian McCaul 13E
Teacher: Mrs C Keyes
Scenario:
A property developer is converting an old railway station into retail and office accommodation. The client is keen to make the working environment for the staff as comfortable as possible. As a consultant, explain how this can be done by addressing the relevant grading criteria.
Introduction:
The developer has come up with the idea of making the old railway into a block of offices’ with also a small corner shop to go hand in hand with this. As the station is quite run down and cold the developer will have to take into consideration …show more content…
the 3 main factors; heat (warm and cold) acoustics and finally light (natural & artificial). These are the main factors that will ensure maximum comfort for members of the office and as well as the corner shop. The idea behind having the shop is that the staff from the offices’ won’t have to travel far to get their lunch or just a cup of coffee.
Task 1: (a) Identify and describe the basic factors that will influence human comfort in the retail & office accommodation in thermal, acoustic and visual terms. You must include any 4 of the 7 previously identified & discussed factors.
Thermal –
Thermal comfort is when someone is comfortable at the level of temperature at that present moment, e.g. when someone is sitting in the office and they are neither too hot nor too cold they are “comfortable.”
• Activity level - within the office/retail accommodation is a key factor that will increase activity level as, the more people walking and up on their feet there will be an increase in temperature.
• Air temperature – air temperature in the office/retail varies, there must be an optimum temperature of 18ºC to 23 ºC for anyone to work at their maximum efficiency. If anyone is too hot or too cold in the work place, they will be distracted at the fact of being too warm or too cold.
• Air Movement – air movement is the movement of air across the office/retail. Examples such as draughts, fans and even someone walking past all effect air movement, again most air movement will be cold so this may either cool a person down or make someone slightly cold.
• Clothing – clothing of the employee will affect their temperature, if an employee has too many layers on them they will then become too warm but this works vice versa, if they haven’t enough layers on they may become too cold.
• Mean Radiant Temperature - Mean radiant temperature (MRT) is the average temperature of the surfaces (i.e. the walls, floor, windows, etc) that surround a person. MRT affects the rate at which the body can lose heat by radiation. If MRT Is increased heat loss from our body will decrease which means that we lose less heat form our bodies, but if MRT is decreased we will lose more heat from our bodies causing us to get colder.
• Humidity – Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air.If there is a high level of humidity people would often say their feeling “sticky” or “clammy”. As humans rely on exerting heat through the body by sweat they will sweat more as there is already high level of moisture in the air due to there being a high humidity level. This will make the employees very uncomfortable and not work as efficiently.
Visual – Visual comfort is to do with the amount of light that is available in the room at one time, either this may be artificial or natural.
Also the colour of the walls or furniture play a factor as if they are light the will reflect the light already present in the room where as if the were dark they would absorb the light.
• Light Sources – Light Sources are divided into two different categories, artificial and natural. Artificial light is the light supplied by lights, lamps or torches. For anyone working in an office/retail environment it is important that a significant amount of light is provided to be able to see what they are doing and also for safety reasons also Natural light is also important as it gives the employee a sense that they arent trapped within 4 walls and a lack of daylight may trigger illnesses such as people being claustrophobic, having a natural light source relaxes people in their everyday tasks.
• Colours – If the colours of the furniture or walls are light, then they will then in return reflect any other light that then shines upon them. Having a brightly coloured room will normally better the mood of any employee opposed to a dark coloured one. If the furniture or walls were a dark colour the light would then be absorbed by it and not
reflect.
Acoustics – the acoustics of an office/retail accommodation is the sounds that involved with the accommodation.
• Indoor - inside the accommodation you will find that it would normally be relatively quiet. You would have tin the office the sounds of telephones, printers, people talking etc. You wouldn’t have a vast large volume of noise; it would be at a level where you would be able to work at. In the retail you would have the noise of customers, fridges/freezers, tills etc. Again this would be at a level where you would be able to work comfortably.
• Outside – Noise that comes from outside is uncontrollable, the only thing you could do to try and prevent it would be to close the windows but then normally the windows are left open for ventilation so therefore the noise is coming from outside is really uncontrollable. Noise from outside would be, traffics, constructional operations etc. Normally these noises are frequent but not loud enough to put you of your work within the office/retail accommodation.
Task 1b
Describe the instruments and methods used to measure the factors in part ‘a’.
Light Meter: a light meter is used to measure light in an area of natural or artificial light. The unit they use s Lux. Light metres include and electric circuit which may be either analogue or digital. Lux is equal to one lemon per square metre.
Sound Meter: to measure acoustic levels you use a sound meter. It’s a handheld device which also has a microphone attached. The measurement a sound meter uses is recorded in decibels.
Thermometer: A Thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient.
Unit 4: Construction Science & Materials
Assignment 1: Human Comfort within Buildings Report
Student: Rian McCaul 13E
Teacher: Mrs C Keyes
Scenario:
A property developer is converting an old railway station into retail and office accommodation. The client is keen to make the working environment for the staff as comfortable as possible. As a consultant, explain how this can be done by addressing the relevant grading criteria.
Introduction:
The developer has come up with the idea of making the old railway into a block of offices’ with also a small corner shop to go hand in hand with this. As the station is quite run down and cold the developer will have to take into consideration …show more content…
the 3 main factors; heat (warm and cold) acoustics and finally light (natural & artificial). These are the main factors that will ensure maximum comfort for members of the office and as well as the corner shop. The idea behind having the shop is that the staff from the offices’ won’t have to travel far to get their lunch or just a cup of coffee.
Task 1: (a) Identify and describe the basic factors that will influence human comfort in the retail & office accommodation in thermal, acoustic and visual terms. You must include any 4 of the 7 previously identified & discussed factors.
Thermal –
Thermal comfort is when someone is comfortable at the level of temperature at that present moment, e.g. when someone is sitting in the office and they are neither too hot nor too cold they are “comfortable.”
• Activity level - within the office/retail accommodation is a key factor that will increase activity level as, the more people walking and up on their feet there will be an increase in temperature.
• Air temperature – air temperature in the office/retail varies, there must be an optimum temperature of 18ºC to 23 ºC for anyone to work at their maximum efficiency. If anyone is too hot or too cold in the work place, they will be distracted at the fact of being too warm or too cold.
• Air Movement – air movement is the movement of air across the office/retail. Examples such as draughts, fans and even someone walking past all effect air movement, again most air movement will be cold so this may either cool a person down or make someone slightly cold.
• Clothing – clothing of the employee will affect their temperature, if an employee has too many layers on them they will then become too warm but this works vice versa, if they haven’t enough layers on they may become too cold.
• Mean Radiant Temperature - Mean radiant temperature (MRT) is the average temperature of the surfaces (i.e. the walls, floor, windows, etc) that surround a person. MRT affects the rate at which the body can lose heat by radiation. If MRT Is increased heat loss from our body will decrease which means that we lose less heat form our bodies, but if MRT is decreased we will lose more heat from our bodies causing us to get colder.
• Humidity – Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air.If there is a high level of humidity people would often say their feeling “sticky” or “clammy”. As humans rely on exerting heat through the body by sweat they will sweat more as there is already high level of moisture in the air due to there being a high humidity level. This will make the employees very uncomfortable and not work as efficiently.
Visual – Visual comfort is to do with the amount of light that is available in the room at one time, either this may be artificial or natural.
Also the colour of the walls or furniture play a factor as if they are light the will reflect the light already present in the room where as if the were dark they would absorb the light.
• Light Sources – Light Sources are divided into two different categories, artificial and natural. Artificial light is the light supplied by lights, lamps or torches. For anyone working in an office/retail environment it is important that a significant amount of light is provided to be able to see what they are doing and also for safety reasons also Natural light is also important as it gives the employee a sense that they arent trapped within 4 walls and a lack of daylight may trigger illnesses such as people being claustrophobic, having a natural light source relaxes people in their everyday tasks.
• Colours – If the colours of the furniture or walls are light, then they will then in return reflect any other light that then shines upon them. Having a brightly coloured room will normally better the mood of any employee opposed to a dark coloured one. If the furniture or walls were a dark colour the light would then be absorbed by it and not
reflect.
Acoustics – the acoustics of an office/retail accommodation is the sounds that involved with the accommodation.
• Indoor - inside the accommodation you will find that it would normally be relatively quiet. You would have tin the office the sounds of telephones, printers, people talking etc. You wouldn’t have a vast large volume of noise; it would be at a level where you would be able to work at. In the retail you would have the noise of customers, fridges/freezers, tills etc. Again this would be at a level where you would be able to work comfortably.
• Outside – Noise that comes from outside is uncontrollable, the only thing you could do to try and prevent it would be to close the windows but then normally the windows are left open for ventilation so therefore the noise is coming from outside is really uncontrollable. Noise from outside would be, traffics, constructional operations etc. Normally these noises are frequent but not loud enough to put you of your work within the office/retail accommodation.
Task 1b
Describe the instruments and methods used to measure the factors in part ‘a’.
Light Meter: a light meter is used to measure light in an area of natural or artificial light. The unit they use s Lux. Light metres include and electric circuit which may be either analogue or digital. Lux is equal to one lemon per square metre.
Sound Meter: to measure acoustic levels you use a sound meter. It’s a handheld device which also has a microphone attached. The measurement a sound meter uses is recorded in decibels.
Thermometer: A Thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient.