Staff working in the Endoscopy office at Eastbourne District General Hospital were suffering because their office was overheating and there was no capacity to provide air conditioning.
Enviroblinds and AMA Building Services Consultants collaborated to demonstrate how external shading can passively reduce excess solar heat gain. An external roller blind was retrofitted by Enviroblinds onto a West facing office at the hospital in August 2023. AMA Building Services Consultants published a Thermal Impact Assessment based on their temperature monitoring, thermal modelling and analysis.
The real time monitoring showed that the use of an external roller blind improved the thermal comfort by regularly reducing the air temperature by approximately 2°C. The maximum temperature reduction was 2.5°C. This is significant and would have been even greater on a south facing room with larger windows.
In terms of energy saving, the data showed that the use of external shading achieved a 52% reduction in potential cooling demand and suggests avoiding the requirement for active cooling.
The report highlights the energy saving benefits of passive cooling and also the savings in capital costs. To install external blinds typically amounts to just 25% of air conditioning capital cost.
Installing passive cooling as a first measure to reduce overheating makes sense financially and environmentally.
NHS Trusts should implement external shading to reduce their energy consumption, in line with their Net Zero target by 2030. First and foremost overheating is harmful to the health and well being of vulnerable patients. In today’s warming climate passive cooling measures such as external shading should be fitted to all buildings at risk of overheating.
Our thanks to AMA Building Services Consultants and Eastbourne District General Hospital for working with us on this project.
Please click here to read the full Thermal Impact Assessment.