The energy use and occupant comfort of a high-density multi-residential development

This paper aims to evaluate the energy use and occupant comfort of a high-density multi-residential development in Melbourne, Australia. The project building is a graduated three to nine story apartment and retail complex, a highly innovative mixed use and mixed tenure apartment offering sustainable and affordable living. In order to test if the designed performance of the project building has been achieved, a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was conducted over a whole year period. On-site energy audit including natural gas, electricity and water was undertaken on a monthly basis in all 199 apartments, and occupant satisfaction was measured using the Building User Satisfaction (BUS) survey. Annual utility consumption was calculated and analysed according to apartment type (e.g. internal areas, number of rooms). The annual utility consumption per household seems far less than the average household consumption in the same suburb, demonstrating statistically significant differences existed in the utility consumption according to the apartment type. The building occupant survey showed a high level of satisfaction with overall building design and performance, however, indicated less satisfaction with the storage and space of the project building. Although the respondents demonstrated that they were thermally comfortable and satisfied with the overall condition in winter, they seemed uncomfortable and dissatisfied with the overall thermal condition in summer. The issues on overheating (hot-cold), dry and stuffy condition arose in the occupant survey. As the project building was developed as commercially replicable pilot, it is expected that this research could provide an insight into the interaction between sustainable high-density housing and its occupants and even further contribute to developing a regenerative design framework for high-density urban living.