Complex Built Environment Systems (CBES) Platform Grant Renewal Bid: Built Environment Systems Thinking

第一个复杂的建筑环境系统(CBES)平台Grant巩固了一个真正跨学科、世界领先的研究小组，该小组专注于我们研究活动背景的复杂性，并建立了一个新的研究所(UCL Energy)。第二个平台赠款支持了基础研究战略计划的发展，旨在了解建筑环境脱碳的意想不到的后果，使CBE成为该领域的世界领导者，并资助了三个新的伦敦大学学院(环境设计与工程、可持续遗产和可持续资源)。在第三个平台赠款的支持下，我们对CBE的愿景现在是转变对可持续建筑环境系统性的科学理解。在最近的一篇获奖论文中，我们确定了家庭能源效率干预的100多个意想不到的后果。仅以湿气为例，我们就可以说明为什么系统思维方法现在如此重要。到2030年，英国政府的政策将是，每个家庭都将受益于提高能效的措施。这大约是2500万户家庭--我们所有的家庭都将受到某种程度的影响。每年的总成本将达到100亿GB。英国只有一次机会正确地做到这一点。不幸的是，现在很明显，我们没有正确处理这些复杂的问题。例如，最近在英格兰北部对大约400所住宅进行的低能耗整修，由于灾难性的湿度问题，故障率达到100%，这将花费数百万美元进行整改。这对整个脱碳计划、建筑物居住者的健康、所涉及的社区以及这些物业的经济价值都有巨大的影响。因此，在湿度问题上，我们已经迈出了决定性的一步，建立了新的“英国建筑湿度中心”，以连贯的方式将建筑工程物理、健康、建筑用途、质量和工艺联系起来。因此，更广泛地说，我们的论点是，建筑环境是一个复杂的系统，只有通过一种新的跨学科系统思维方法才能成功地解决这个问题--性能产生于基础工程和物理因素与过程和结构的相互作用中。这样的系统思维过程在我们当前平台Grant的“住房、能源和福祉”(HEW)项目中进行了试点，并导致与来自政府、行业、非政府组织和社区团体的大量利益相关者密切合作，为未来的研究提供了宝贵的资源。启用这种新的、系统集成的方法来进行建筑环境研究将需要我们进行研究的方式发生重大变化-这将是与往常业务的根本背道而驰。制定这样一个新的方法框架以及与之相关的跨学科研究小组的重组和发展将涉及战略、长期视角以及一些风险。灵活的平台资金在这里将是至关重要的，因为它将使响应模式资金无法实现的方法成为可能。在未来5年，这一特定领域也可能出现一些关键的政策变化--平台资金将使我们能够及时对研究机会做出反应，并动态地保持该领域的研究领先地位。CBE团队成员的职业生涯将通过战略行动进行管理和发展。由平台资金特别促成的职业发展活动将包括：(I)一系列新的定期“系统思维”讲习班，以在我们更广泛的研究系统内制定个人研究议程；(Ii)通过借调提供新的产业/政策指导；(Iii)通过外部培训课程对工作人员进行新的技能培训；(Iv)通过我们独特的一系列定期讲习班，加强利益攸关方的参与。

The first Complex Built Environment Systems (CBES) Platform Grant consolidated a truly interdisciplinary, world-leading research group which focussed on the complexity of the context of our research activities and seeded a new Institute (UCL Energy). The second Platform Grant underpinned the development of a strategic programme of fundamental research aimed at understanding the unintended consequences of decarbonising the built environment, enabled CBES to become a world leader in this area and seeded three new UCL Institutes (Environmental Design & Engineering, Sustainable Heritage and Sustainable Resources). Supported by a third Platform Grant, our vision for CBES is now to transform scientific understanding of the systemic nature of a sustainable built environment. In a recent award-winning paper, resulting from our work under the current Platform Grant, we identified over 100 unintended consequences of energy efficiency interventions in homes. Taking moisture as just one example, we can demonstrate why a systems thinking approach is now so vital. By 2030, it will be government policy that every home in the UK will benefit from measures to improve energy efficiency. This is approximately 25 million homes - all our homes will be affected in some way. The total cost will be ~ £10 billion a year. The UK only has the chance once to do this correctly. Unfortunately, it is now clear that we are not dealing with these complex issues correctly. For example, a recent low energy refurbishment of ~400 dwellings in the north of England has had a 100% failure rate due to disastrous moisture issues which will cost millions to rectify. This has huge implications for the entire decarbonisation plan, for the health of the building occupants, for the communities involved and for the economic value of these properties. For the issue of moisture therefore, we have taken the decisive step to set up the new 'UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings' to link building engineering physics, health, building use, quality and process in a coherent way. Our thesis therefore, more widely, is that the built environment is a complex system that can only be successfully tackled via a new interdisciplinary systems thinking approach - performance emerges from the interplay of fundamental engineering and physical factors with process and structure. Such a systems thinking process was piloted in our project 'Housing, Energy and Wellbeing' (HEW) in the current Platform Grant and has led to close collaboration with a very large body of stakeholders from government, industry, NGOs and community groups who provide an invaluable resource for future research. Enabling this new, systemically integrated approach to built environment research will require a major change in the way we undertake our research - this will be a fundamental departure from business as usual. The development of such a novel methodological framework and the associated re-structuring and development of an interdisciplinary research group will involve a strategic, long-term perspective as well as some risk. The flexible Platform funding will be vital here in that it will enable approaches not possible with responsive mode funding. There are also likely to be some key policy changes in this specific area over the next 5 years - Platform funding will enable us to react to research opportunities in a timely manner and dynamically maintain research leadership in the field. The careers of CBES team members will be managed and developed through strategic action. Career development activities specifically enabled by Platform funding will include: (i) a new series of regular 'systems thinking' workshops to develop personal research agendas within our broader system of research; (ii) new industrial/policy mentoring via secondments; (iii) new skills training for staff through external training courses; (iv) enhanced stakeholder engagement via our unique series of regular workshops.