Comfort – can you keep most of the people happy, most of the time?

Achieving a “comfortable” internal environment may seem simple, but dissatisfaction with the internal environment – particularly the thermal environment – is widespread, with complaints of overheating in winter and coldness in air-conditioned buildings in summer commonplace.

The design of the building services systems must provide a good thermal, aural and visual environment – ie fresh air and warmth, no unwanted noise or odours and good lighting. Design criteria exist for all these factors but the choice depends on many variables, including the use of the space, activity level, clothing level, age of occupants etc.

Decisions on design conditions are made harder by the fact that comfort is a very subjective response – different people have different comfort levels – and so the main aim is literally to keep most of the people happy most of the time.

All those involved in the design, specification and delivery of the internal environment therefore need a good appreciation of comfort requirements. It is also important for building owners and users to be able to explain their internal environmental comfort requirements and to be aware of the constraints on what can be achieved or delivered with building services systems.

Both designers and operators will find Comfort of enormous help, with its explanations of the basic principles governing thermal, visual and acoustic comfort; its clear exposition of the key factors and the main design criteria and guidance on the information that may be needed when deciding on comfort requirements.