NARM, The National Association of Rooflight Manufacturers, has played an important role representing the UK’s rooflight industry in consultation with the Government and its subcontractors, CIBSE, AECOM and the BRE, on issues relating to Part L of The Building Regulations. The following article by NARM’s Technical Committee, explains how small differences in rooflight area can…
2016 HAS BEEN A BUSY YEAR AT NARM! We’ve been working hard to benefit our members, raise awareness of rooflighting best practice and generally present the case for daylighting in the built environment. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to in 2016: ON-LINE RIBA CPD SEMINAR This seminar, entitled ‘An Introduction to daylighting…
NARM will be making regular editorial contributions to the new DAYLIGHTING Magazine – a bi-monthly digital publication that’s focusing on daylighting – with a focus on sustainability. The magazine targets architects and specifiers in the private and public sectors and will provide a platform for promoting greater understanding of the benefits of natural daylight in…
In retail environments and offices, the concentration and performance of workers has been proven to be superior to those where only artificial light is present. There is compelling evidence that shoppers in retail environments generally stay longer and spend more where there are high levels of natural daylight – and the performance of retail workers…
GUEST BLOG by John Godley, Technical Manager for Hambleside Danelaw. Before the HSE introduced the CDM Regulations, they had already done some preliminary work on roof fragility. A simple ‘drop’ test onto a roof assembly was proposed, and if the impactor was retained, then the roof was deemed to be non-fragile. This testing, defined in…
It’s now widely accepted that natural daylight not only provides the best environment for people to work in: it saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by reducing the need for electric lighting. However, the major concern with saving energy is not that the artificial lights get switched on; it is that they do not get…
This graph shows how roof light areas will affect illumination levels. In this example for a single storey building located in London, between the hours of 6am and 6pm daily, with roof lights providing 50% light transmission. You can see that as the roof light area along the bottom of the graph increases, the length…
As a general rule of thumb, daylighting in all types of building should be designed to provide adequate light levels in the room and on the work plane so that daylight is the main/or only source of light (autonomous) during daytime. For domestic properties, whilst there is little guidance on specific illumination levels in design,…
The BRE has published some fascinating insights into the positive effects of daylighting in healthcare establishments on its ‘Designing Buildings Wiki. The following are edited excerpts from this report: The issues associated with SBS (Sick Building Syndrome) and/or daylight deprivation, coupled with a renewed interest in the use of daylight in the design of low-energy,…
GUEST BLOG: John Godley, Technical Manager at Hambleside Danelaw, discusses the important factors to consider for an effective daylighting plan. Rooflights can provide up to three times more light than vertical glazing, and can provide more even and useable distribution of natural light into a building, particularly in large structures where light is required deep…