Featured researcher: Steve Goodhew
Professor of Environmental Building
Improving building performance
Steve is an expert in the use of thermography and its use in relation to improving the building performance of homes and commercial properties. He also works in the areas of sustainable construction materials, thermal measurements and wider issues in relation to the energy use in buildings.
His research interests include building science/physics, fire in buildings, sustainable construction, in-situ thermal measurements of building materials, earth buildings, and moisture monitoring.
Improving the patient journey between ward and operating theatre
Steve has been the lead for a piece of research which links health, clinical expediency and building physics. James Melcalfe, Paul Moor and Matthew Boyd have supported Professor Steve Goodhew and Professor Janet Richardson in an on-going project that is designed to assess the impact of the built environment upon the possible reductions in patient core temperature. Low core temperature can cause complications in surgery and in extreme cases cause cancellations, with risk of fatalities in operations.
The ward environment and patient journey between a ward and operating theatre have been investigated in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth. Air temperature and humidity have been monitored over many months, and the immediate thermal impact of the patient journey has been investigated using a bespoke trolley with sensors, alongside thermographic surveys along the route to the operating theatre.
The work has currently shown that whilst the air temperature is consistently within acceptable limits on the ward, the impact of cold surfaces in certain positions may have ramifications for varying patient core temperatures.
Read about sustainable construction processes
Steve's book, published in May 2016, explores the concepts and practices that lead to sustainable construction. It explores various practices of how to build sustainably and assess the may tools used for such processes.
This book covers the drivers for sustainable construction, definitions, historical impacts, climate change and global, regional and individual responses.
The book Sustainable Construction Processes: A Resource Text, can be found on the Wiley website.
Built Environment Research
We are an internationally recognised research group providing high quality interdisciplinary and applied research.
The main research concentrations of the Built Environment discipline are building performance analysis and construction management.
