Lisa started her career in low energy Architecture practices, including Architype. She completed an MSc in Environmental and Energy studies then worked in various energy focussed roles in both commercial and public sectors, including London Borough of Merton. Her work at Parity Projects furthered an interest in the responsible retrofit of existing buildings and specifically the use of internal wall insulation on solid brick walls. Lisa also works part time with Cocreate Consulting on Passivhaus certifications and moisture monitoring of low energy retrofit projects.

Thesis Title: Hygrothermal characterisation of brick walls in the UK, and the impacts of internal wall insulation

Applying internal wall insulation to solid brick walls may contribute significantly to stock wide carbon savings. However, unintended consequences include increased moisture in the existing structure, which may lead to structural failure and risks to human health from mould.

This research will include a detailed analysis of heat and moisture in a small number of similar brick walls for at least one year before and after insulation using high resolution surface and in-wall monitoring. Planned insulation works to the three walls are staggered, so comparisons between insulated and uninsulated walls in similar environmental conditions is also possible.

Heat and moisture processes in brick walls have so far mainly been explored through hygrothermal modelling, using laboratory derived material property data. High resolution in-situ monitoring of solid walls offers a unique opportunity to assess the outputs of these models, and potentially enables hygrothermal parameter estimation, using simplified models and inverse analysis.