The 10th International Congress on Architectural Technology – ICAT

2024

HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL

CHANGE THE
HOUSING RETROFIT PROCESS

Chamara Panakaduwa, Paul Coates & Mustapha Munir

University of Salford, United Kingdom.

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Objective

The objective of this study is to

identify the potential change of
housing retrofit due to artificial
intelligence with the different
stakeholders involved

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Methods
Critical Literature Review
+
CATWOE Analysis
C : Customer W : Worldview
A : Actor O : Owner
T : Transformation process E : Environmental concerns

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Artificial
intelligence [AI]
Artificial intelligence is a
discipline that blends computer
science with extensive data sets
in order to solve problems, that
usually need human
intervention. It includes sub-
disciplines like machine
learning and deep learning,
which are often mentioned
alongside AI (IBM, 2023).

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Why Artificial
intelligence?
After different levels of progress in the AI
field, 2023 showed a considerable boom in
the AI field with AI language models such
as ChatGPT (IBM, 2023).
Artificial intelligence is changing the way
of doing a lot of things.

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Housing retrofit

- Insulation
Housing retrofit can be identified
- Heating and hot water
as improving housing
- Smart home controls
performance by installing various
- Renewable energy
measures. Although the housing
- Water conservation
retrofit is mainly viewed from an
- Structural retrofit
energy efficiency perspective, a
- Ventilation and air quality
retrofit can be considered in many
- Aesthetic measures
aspects. E.g., Structural
- Energy efficient lighting and equipment
performance (Cao et al., 2022)
What else??
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Why housing retrofit?
• Housing retrofit is something that needs to
be accelerated for the next three decades in
the UK for net zero in 2050 (DBEIS,
2021).
• The retrofit progress in the UK is currently
below 200,000 per year. This should be
increased to at least 1,200,000 per year to
meet net-zero targets (Parliament UK,
2021).
• According to IEA (2021), the progress of
housing retrofit is extremely poor.
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 • Computer vision
• Natural language
Artificial processing
intelligence • Machine learning
themes • Robotic process
automation
• Optimisation

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CATWOE Analysis

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Customer
Application Description

• Homeowner The homeowners or/and the tenants of the

• Tenant house are the parties who are affected by
the change

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Actors
Application Description

• Retrofit professionals Retrofit professionals such as project

managers (coordinators), designers,
engineers and energy assessors are
some examples of professionals

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Transformation process
Application Description

• Using AI for retrofit The AI will be adopted in retrofit to

processes change the industry for the better

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Worldview
Application Description

• Better project The expectation is to make the

delivery retrofit project delivery better

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Owner
Application Description

• Government The government and/or the

• Construction construction companies involved in
Companies retrofit should make the decision.

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Environment
Application Description

• Resistance to change There are several potential

• High initial costs constraints. Some of the examples are
given.

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 The impact of artificial
intelligence is mainly expected in
the work of retrofit
professionals.
Conclusions The way these professionals
have been working to be
improved for the better with the
help of artificial intelligence.

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 • This study has been done as an eye-
opener to draw attention towards
adopting artificial intelligence for
improving housing retrofit processes.
Limitations of
• It will be highly beneficial to evaluate
the study AI maturity models in the retrofit
industry for better positioning of this
disruptive technology in a
progressive trajectory.

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References
• IBM. (2023). What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Www.ibm.com; IBM. https://www.ibm.com/topics/artificial-
intelligence
• CAO, X.-Y., SHEN, D., FENG, D.-C., WANG, C.-L., QU, Z., & WU, G. (2022). Seismic retrofitting of existing frame
buildings through externally attached sub-structures: State of the art review and future perspectives. Journal
of Building Engineering, 57, 104904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104904
• DBEIS. (2021). Heat and buildings strategy. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-and-
buildings-strategy
•Parliament UK. (2021). Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes - Environmental Audit Committee - House of
Commons. Publications.parliament.uk; Parliament of United Kingdom.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmenvaud/346/34605.htm
• IEA. (2021). Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. In www.iea.org. INTERNATIONAL
ENERGY AGENCY. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/deebef5d-0c34-4539-9d0c-10b13d840027/
NetZeroby2050-ARoadmapfortheGlobalEnergySector_CORR.pdf

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Thank you!

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Questions?

Corresponding author

Chamara Panakaduwa
chamarapanakaduwa@gmail.com

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