Environmental Building Group

Research by the department of the built environment of the School of Art, Design and Architecture

Researchers in the built environment area carry out studies in the broad area of building science and technology. The work aligns with our undergraduate teaching in architectural engineering, construction management, building surveying and quantity surveying.
The main focus areas are building monitoring and measurement, building performance simulation, and construction management. A range of facilities are available to support these efforts, such as thermal cameras, laboratory facilities to measure thermal properties of materials, 3D scanners, portable monitoring equipment that can be installed in buildings, an omnidirectional sound source and sound analysis equipment, thermal simulation software, process modelling software and more. Energy efficiency, in particular the role of occupant behaviour in energy demand reduction, features in a lot of the work.
Research in the built environment covers both in-depth studies as well as interdisciplinary work; we work with colleagues across a wide range of fields such as architecture, computing, psychology, civil engineering, material science and computing. As building science is an applied area, we maintain strong connections with the construction industry.
Researchers from the department are active in an number of professional associations, such as:
Research from the team is typically published in a number of archived, peer-reviewed academic journals such as Energy and Buildings, Building and Environment, Automation in Construction, the Journal of Building Performance Simulation, Applied Energy and Advanced Engineering Informatics.
Sustainability Hub
Many of our students go on to work in the City of London and other financial centres, including careers in accountancy, actuarial science (modelling risk), quantitative analysis as well as in commercial and merchant banking.
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Core research areas

Building monitoring and measurement
This research area captures building attributes and performance through actual physical measurement. A wide range of instruments is available to collect data in situ; the team also has the expertise to measure building performance over time (monitoring) and to do so remotely.
People:
 Steve Goodhew  

Building performance simulation
This research area employs the computer to replicate building behaviour in a virtual environment. Simulation tools used include mainstream tools such as DesignBuilder, IES Virtual Environment, and EnergyPlus. Whilst the main focus is on thermal simulation there is also work on other aspects such as lighting.

Construction management
This research area focuses on the building quality, time, cost, health and safety, waste reduction and customer satisfaction. Data is often gathered through site observation, surveys and interviews. 
People:
 João Alencastro  

Occupant behaviour
This research area explores the interaction between buildings and their human inhabitants. It looks at occancy patterns, occupant activity and control actions, and the underlying drivers and factors. This is a complex research area that employs hard measurement (monitoring of CO2, movement, equipment power use) as well as social science methods to understand the background of the observations
People:
 Steve Goodhew

Natural building
Our research looks at traditional building methods and how they can be repurposed with a view to constructing a new generation of energy-efficient homes.
People:
 Steve Goodhew
Jim Carfrae
Matthew Fox
John Pace
Kevin Owen  

Featured researcher: Dr João Alencastro

Dr João Alencastro recently completed his PhD-studies. His thesis, titled ‘The impact of quality management on the thermal performance of social housing in the United Kingdom’, was approved in 2019. His study finds that the lack of an objective definition of quality goals, and especially compliance procedures, during the first stages of Project Quality Plans promotes a domino effect that compromises the application of quality procedures focused on mitigating thermal related quality defects. Analysis of detailed evidence collected from five social housing case studies suggests that in the majority of the projects the deployed quality management procedures focus on visual quality issues, allowing defects with the potential to impair the thermal performance of the dwellings to remain uncorrected. 
Despite a range of quality control procedures administered by the client, contractor and independent agents, these stakeholders do not systematically prevent and appraise such defects during the preconstruction phase, nor during the construction stage.
Actions focused on addressing these challenges are proposed as means to mitigate the quality issues affecting the thermal performance in social housing projects.
Thesis available online

Funded research

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eViz: Energy Visualisation for Carbon Reduction
A thermal image of a building. Credit Dr Matthew Fox.
DeViz: Defect Visualisation via Thermography
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CobBauge: A view to constructing a new generation of energy efficient homes
RELEGYPT
RELEGYPT: Creating links for investigating technical barriers for the uptake of renewable energy in Egypt

Transforming sustainable buildings

Steve Goodhew is Professor of Environmental Building and Associate Head of School for Architecture, Design and Environment. An expert in the use of thermography to improve building performance, he is a drafting member of ISO 9869 'Thermal insulation – Building elements – In-situ measurement of thermal resistance and thermal transmittance'.
“If the UK is to hit its ambitious efficiency targets, then we need to ensure that our buildings are performing to their maximum capabilities. We’re trying to change the world, physically change it.”
Plymouth Pioneer – Steve Goodhew  
Professor Steve Goodhew

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22 January 2026

Postgraduate research in the built environment area

We welcome inquiries in opportunities to join us as research student and postdoctoral or visiting researcher. We've previously supported research across a wide variety of areas including the following:
  • Architectural engineering
  • Building monitoring and measurement
  • Building performance analysis
  • Building services engineering
  • Construction management
  • Construction quality management
  • Climate change adaptation of buildings and the built environment
  • Natural building materials
  • Offsite / modern methods of construction
  • Occupant behaviour
  • Post occupancy evaluation

Research impact

  • HThermal imaging and energy visualisation work informs policy development in the city of Vancouver, Canada

  • HSerious building energy game ‘EnergyCat’ taken forward by game developer Fremencorp and international utility company EDF

  • HC3ntinel software, developed within a KTP project with local SME partner C2resources, goes global via multinational Engie

  • HResearch project eViz inspires the launch of social enterprise ‘Art+Energy’

Researchers