Foreword

Designing for performance is not new. Built environment professionals have long battled to achieve their designs in reality. The idea of the ‘performance gap’ came on to my radar in 2010, at a Good Homes Alliance event. It was quickly becoming a real issue for an industry that was gearing up to achieve Zero Carbon Homes. It resonated with me at the time because I was working as project architect on a Code for Sustainable Homes level 4 housing scheme that was hailed as ‘industry leading’, yet likely had a significant performance gap that we could do very little about. I felt disillusioned with the status quo of delivering the minimum required performance, for a minimum price which ultimately lead to ‘value engineering’ or more accurately cost cutting. The disaster at Grenfell tower is the result of this cost and quality cutting process, an epidemic across our industry and culture where cost is king. If we are to rectify this situation, a radical re-think of procurement processes, enforcement of the regulations and attention to quality is needed. I hope this book goes a small way to improving the quality of design thinking and helps architects, clients and contractors in the challenge of delivering energy-efficient homes.