Alongside our consultancy work, Inkling have extensive academic and research experience and have contributed to a wide range of industry publications.
Below are some examples of work we have been involved with.
LETI Operational Energy Modelling Guide
Inkling were lead authors on the LETI Operational Energy Modelling Guide published in 2023.
The guide explores how a building’s in-use meter readings, EUI and other performance metrics can be estimated at the design stage, and how this understanding can be used to inform and improve designs and energy performance.
We hope this guidance will encourage more engagement with and by modellers, and be a useful resource for all design teams as we work our way (with increasing urgency) towards net zero.
Approved Document O
Approved Document O came into force in June 2022. Inkling responded to the 2021 consultation, and have been at the forefront of responding to its introduction and implications.
Susie has written four blog posts on the subject:
New Building Regulation: Part O – the Inkling appraisal
Part O – the Inkling appraisal – Part 2
Part O – the Inkling appraisal – Part 3
Part O – the Inkling appraisal – Part 4 (modelling advice)
In addition, Susie collaborated with Julie Godefroy to produce a Technical Guide to Part O for the Future Homes Hub. This guidance is aimed at housebuilders, but will be useful for anyone trying to get their head around how to achieve and demonstrate compliance.
Operational energy use
Inkling were on the working group delivering the 2022 update to CIBSE TM54: Evaluating operational energy use at the design stage.
TM54 has become the central protocol for evaluating the operational energy performance of buildings at the design stage. The update stays true to the original philosophy, broadening the advice to more overtly include all building types and embrace more modelling tools/methods. The update was prompted by the shift in the industry towards operational energy performance targets, advances in modelling and reference to TM54 for predicting operational energy use in the latest Part L2 (2021) within Building Regulations.
Collaboration with academia
In 2020 Inkling were awarded the prestigious CIBSE Carter Bronze medal for research alongside partners from Hilson Moran and Loughborough University to produce the joint paper ‘Predictions of summertime overheating: Comparison of dynamic thermal models and measurements in synthetically occupied test houses’.
This research continues.
GHA overheating risk tools
Inkling were appointed with Julie Godefroy to produce a new tool to assess Overheating risk in new homes at the early design stage.
The tool and the guidance notes are both free to download from the GHA website here.
A version for retrofit and existing homes was published in 2022 and is also available for free from the GHA website here.
CIBSE TM59
Susie was a lead author of CIBSE TM59: Design methodology for the assessment of overheating risk in homes.
She was part of the team working on this right from the beginning, participating in the early workshops and collaborating all the way through to publication alongside CIBSE, UCL, Arup and Aecom. Inkling are really proud of the end result that became embedded within GLA guidance and Building Regulations.
Inkling are currently leading work on the update to TM59, expected in 2025.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
Claire supervised two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with the University of Strathclyde on behalf of arbnco Ltd, an innovative building technology company based in Glasgow. Both projects were partnerships with the Energy Systems Research Unit (ESRU) at the University of Strathclyde and both were rated as Outstanding on completion.
The first project, funded by EPSRC and Scottish Funding Council, focussed on the calibration of energy models.
The second project, funded by Innovate UK and Scottish Funding Council, revolved around the provision of e-services for facilities managers.
All three of us are regular members of the Scientific Committee for the CIBSE Technical Symposium, acting as expert peer reviewers, and sometimes submitting papers.
Claire has acted as an independent expert for The European Commission under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (previously Horizon 2020) .