This paper describes the findings of a post occupancy evaluation that examined the user satisfaction and energy performance of a recently completed (2008) adaptive rehabilitation project of a traditional 19th Century sandstone tenement block in Edinburgh city centre. At design stage this project sought to incorporate low carbon technologies and high thermal performance into an existing and historic structure, including internal insulation, a ground source heat pump with underfloor heating, sunspaces and MVHR. Since completion the project has won several awards for its approach to sustainable design.
The paper discusses key outcomes of this performance evaluation, which identified some problems occurring with systems and users interaction with these, leading to incidences of poor environmental quality and high-energy use. The paper concludes by identifying limited improvements which could be made to this structure and future design considerations that could improve both retrofit and new-build housing stock