Double skin façade (DSF) technologies for UK office refurbishments: a systemic matchmaking practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish how UK offices and double skin facade (DSF) technologies can be best matched for refurbishment purposes. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses a mixed methodology including primary and secondary data collection, analysis and interpolation through document analysis, comprehensive critical literature review, and case study approach. Findings – In total, 22 benchmarks have been developed to represent 75 per cent of the existing office stock in the UK. Through a comparison with 36 case studies of European buildings refurbished with DSFs, two benchmarks showed to be most suitable for a DSF refurbishment and most appropriate configurations for a successful DSF refurbishment have been identified. Findings have been also checked against a large sample of DSF buildings in the UK. Research limitations/implications – The benchmarks delivered in this study can be developed further into parametric models, where variations can be obtained by changing the pa...