Research and expertise
My research addresses the challenge of transforming the performance of buildings for a healthy, sustainable, and zero-carbon future.
Summary
I combine measurement and modelling techniques to evaluate the energy, thermal, and moisture performance of buildings. My expertise includes: large scale field trails; test houses with synthetic occupants; the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Hygrothermal Test Facility; building diagnostics and post-occupancy evaluation; energy, temperature and indoor air quality monitoring; modelling, thermal and hygrothermal simulation, and the UK's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).
Current research activity
- Development of Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) 11, BRE/BEIS
- SMETER Business Process Design Project (SMETER BPD), AECOM/BEIS
- Active Buildings Centre, EPSRC
Recently completed research projects
- Technical Evaluation of SMETER Technologies (TEST) Project, BEIS
- Active Buildings Centre, EPSRC
- Methods and Metrics for Moisture Risk Assessment (MRA-SWI), EPSRC
- DEFACTO - Digital Energy Feedback and Control Optimisation, EPSRC
- SCENe- Sustainable Community Energy Networks, Innovate UK
Completed Doctoral Researchers
- Dr Matt Li (2022) Thermal performance of UK dwellings: assessment of methods for quantifying whole-dwelling heat loss in occupied homes
- Dr Rami El Geneidy (2021) Engineering energy flexibility into buildings: development and evaluation of a model-predictive control strategy for demand response with space-heating
- Dr Dan Wright (2021) The energy-saving potential of domestic zonal space heating controls: a socio-technical assessment of semi-detached and owner-occupied UK homes
- Dr Kostas Chapasis (2021) Appraisal of community energy schemes
- Dr Ben Roberts (2020) Ventilation and shading to reduce overheating in UK homes: an evaluation using matched pair test houses with synthetic occupancy
- Dr Roel Tersteeg (2020) Capturing the impact of wind-driven rain on solid-brick wall dwellings
- Dr Karl Sample (2020) Uncertainty in predicting the impact of domestic energy efficiency policy: the case of the green deal
- Dr Victoria Tink (2018) The measured energy efficiency and thermal environment of a UK house retrofitted with internal wall insulation
- Dr Ali Badiei (2018) A reduced data dynamic energy model of the UK houses
- Dr Kate Simpson (2017) Energy efficiency refurbishment in UK owner-occupied homes: The householders' perspective
- Dr Ashley Morton (2017) Heating use in UK homes
- Dr Selin Yilmaz (2017) Stochastic bottom-up modelling of household appliance usage to quantify the demand response potential in UK residential sector
- Dr Louis Fifield (2017) Monitoring UK hospital building type performance
- Dr Arash Beizaee (2016) Measuring and modelling the energy demand reduction potential of using zonal space heating control in a UK home
- Dr Richard Jack (2015) Building diagnostics: practical measurement of the fabric thermal performance of houses
- Dr Jonathan Morris (2013) Benchmarking domestic gas and electricity consumption to aid local authority carbon reduction policy.
Recent publications
- Roberts, BM, Allinson, D, Lomas, K (2021) Evaluating methods for estimating whole house air infiltration rates in summer: implications for overheating and indoor air quality, International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, ISSN: 2398-4708. DOI: 10.1108/IJBPA-06-2021-0085.
- Lomas, K, Allinson, D, Watson, S, Beizaee, A, Haines, V, Li, M (2021) Energy savings from domestic zonal heating controls: Robust evidence from a controlled field trial, Energy and Buildings, 254, 111572, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111572.
- Lomas, K, Watson, S, Allinson, D, Fateh, A, Beaumont, A, Allen, J, Foster, H, Garrett, H (2021) Dwelling and household characteristics' influence on reported and measured summertime overheating: a glimpse of a mild climate in the 2050's, Building and Environment, 201, 107986, ISSN: 0360-1323. DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107986.
- Badiei, A, Allinson, D, Lomas, K (2019) Automated dynamic thermal simulation of houses and housing stocks using readily available reduced data, Energy and Buildings, 203, 109431, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109431.
- Lomas, KJ, Beizaee, A, Allinson, D, Haines, VJ, Beckhelling, J, Loveday, DL, Porritt, SM, Mallaband, B, Morton, A (2019) A domestic operational rating for UK homes: Concept, formulation and application, Energy and Buildings, 201, pp.90-117, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.07.021.
- Li, M, Allinson, D, Lomas, K (2019) Estimation of building heat transfer coefficients from in-use data: Impacts of unmonitored energy flows, International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, 38(1), pp.38-50, ISSN: 2398-4708. DOI: 10.1108/IJBPA-02-2019-0022.
- Roberts, BM, Allinson, D, Diamond, S, Abel, B, Das Bhaumik, C, Khatami, N, Lomas, K (2019) Predictions of summertime overheating: comparison of dynamic thermal models and measurements in synthetically occupied test houses, Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, 40(4), pp.512-552, ISSN: 0143-6244. DOI: 10.1177/0143624419847349.
- Tink, VJ, Porritt, S, Allinson, D, Loveday, D (2018) Measuring and mitigating overheating risk in solid wall dwellings retrofitted with internal wall insulation, Building and Environment, 141, pp.247-261, ISSN: 0360-1323. DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.05.062.
- Fifield, L-J, Lomas, K, Giridharan, R, Allinson, D (2018) Hospital wards and modular construction: Summertime overheating and energy efficiency, Building and Environment, 141, pp.28-44, ISSN: 0360-1323. DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.05.041.
- Li, M, Allinson, D, He, M (2018) Seasonal variation in household electricity demand: A comparison of monitored and synthetic daily load profiles, Energy and Buildings, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.09.018.
- Roberts, BM, Allinson, D, Lomas, K (2018) A matched pair of test houses with synthetic occupants to investigate summertime overheating, Journal of Sustainable Design & Applied Research, 6(1), pp.29-38, ISSN: 2009-549X. DOI: 10.21427/D70N8S.
- Jack, R, Loveday, D, Allinson, D, Lomas, K (2017) First evidence for the reliability of building co-heating tests, Building Research & Information, 46(4), pp.383-401, ISSN: 0961-3218. DOI: 10.1080/09613218.2017.1299523.
- Yilmaz, S, Firth, S, Allinson, D (2017) Occupant behaviour modelling in domestic buildings: the case of household electrical appliances, Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 10(5-6), pp.582-600, ISSN: 1940-1493. DOI: 10.1080/19401493.2017.1287775.
- Allinson, D, Irvine, K, Edmondson, JL, Tiwary, A, Hill, G, Morris, J, Bell, MC, Davies, ZG, Firth, S, Fisher, J, Gaston, KJ, Leake, JR, McHugh, N, Namdeo, A, Rylatt, M, Lomas, K (2016) Measurement and analysis of household carbon: the case of a UK city, Applied Energy, 164, pp.871-881, ISSN: 0306-2619. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.11.054.
- Lomas, KJ, Morris, J, Allinson, D, Harrison, J (2015) Benchmarking and tracking domestic gas and electricity consumption at the local authority level, Energy Efficiency, ISSN: 1570-646X. DOI: 10.1007/s12053-015-9393-8.
- Beizaee, A, Allinson, D, Lomas, K, Foda, E, Loveday, D (2015) Measuring the potential of zonal space heating controls to reduce energy use in UK homes: the case of un-furbished 1930s dwellings, Energy and Buildings, 92, pp.29-44, ISSN: 0378-7788. DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.01.040.
- Taylor, SC, Firth, SK, Allinson, D, Quddus, M, Wang, C, Smith, P (2014) Spatial mapping of building energy demand in Great Britain, GCB Bioenergy, ISSN: 1757-1693. DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12165.
Teaching
I contribute to learning and teaching activities across the School's programmes, including:
Undergraduate
- Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer for Architectural Engineering Programme (Responsible Examiner)
- Indoor Air module for Architectural Engineering Programme
- Architectural Science and Advanced Technical Investigations for Architecture Programme
- Supervision of dissertations on topics aligned to my research interests
Postgraduate
- Socio-technical Perspectives: Theory and Methods for ERBE Programme (Responsible Examiner)
- Supervision of dissertations on topics aligned to my research interests
Recently completed projects
- Damp and Mould Risk Indicator, Build Test Solutions
- Overheating analysis: UK National Energy Follow Up Study (BEIS), BRE
Career
I am a mechanical engineering graduate with long-standing expertise in experimental methods, having performed R&D and testing roles in the private sector, for the government and in academia (ICI, National Power, Health and Safety Laboratory, University of Nottingham).
Expertise in numerical modelling and simulation were developed during my subsequent PhD and PostDoc (Built Environment, University of Nottingham). Since joining º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, I have continued to combine measurement and modelling techniques to evaluate the performance of buildings, their systems and occupants. This has included evaluating the performance of buildings in large-scale field trials, developing the BERG's test houses with synthetic occupancy, designing the state-of-the-art Hygrothermal Test Facility in our laboratories, and using high quality data to assess the accuracy of models and to improve their predictions.
Professional affiliations
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Awards
- º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Teaching Innovation Award 2020
- CIBSE Carter Bronze medal 2020, best paper in the CIBSE technical journal
- ABCE School award 2019 (largest Enterprise Grant at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ)
- º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Built Environment Beacon, Research awards, Research Paper of the year 2018
External activities
- PhD examination: University of Nottingham, University of Bath, UCL and Leeds Beckett University
- External examiner: MSc Facade Engineering, University of Western England, Bristol
- European Committee for Standardization Technical Committee: CEN/TC89 Working Group 13 “Thermal performance of buildings and building components”
- British Standards Institution subcommittee B/540/2- Building Performance–moisture
- Expert technical reviewer, including for CIBSE, DECC, BEIS, and all the major academic journals in my field
Key collaborators
My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:
- The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
- Building Research Establishment (BRE)
- Halton Housing, Widness
- Building Performance and Sustainability Research Unit, Leeds Beckett University
- Physical Characterisation of Buildings group, University College London
- Build Test Solutions