An innovative long-span concrete floor structure for improved thermal comfort of buildings

The usefulness and the advantages of natural ventilation in the modern world are evident from a number of contemporary structures that use such concepts. Recently BRE constructed a new office and seminar facility (BRE's Environmental Building) which is acting as a model for low-energy and environmentally aware office buildings of the twenty-first century. Subsequently, a research programme was undertaken at BRE for the purpose of taking forward these concepts through an innovative floor system called SINSLAB. Its main objective was to demonstrate that this structural system can be efficiently used for long-span floor construction. The structural floor utilises precast modular construction concepts in a manner advocated by the recent Egan Report. This paper presents the details of the design and construction of a full-scale laboratory model and its successful trials.