Edinburgh Napier University

  Nearly half of the non-domestic building stock in central Europe was constructed between 1961-1 990. Partly due to the technical lifespan of façades and building components, most of these buildings are characterised by high energy consumption and thermal discomfort. The sustainable renovation of the non-domestic stock is thcrcfbrc arguably one of the great opportunities, and challenges, fur all stakeholders in the built environment. Unlike domestic buildings, non-domestic buildings can vary greatly in scope, purpose, and built form, and solutions well-suited to a specific building type may not work in different contexts. In this respect, the flexibility offered by double skin façade (DSF) technologies represents an interesting approach with potential broad application. DSFs are capable of significant reduction of both the heating and cooling loads of the building they are applied to whilst providing good levels of indoor comfort. However, while the operational behaviour of DSFs is fairly well studied, there is limited knowledge of the whole life cycle. This paper reports on the life cycle impacts of DSFs when used in non-domestic refurhishments as an alternative to a more traditional single skin refurbishment approach. It focuses on embodied energy and carbon, two of the impact categories assessed throughout the life cycle stages by the recently developed standard EN 15978. The results show that DSFs can outperform their single skin counterparts for non-domestic refurbishments from a life cycle perspective, thus truly representing a low-carbon technology.