The thesis
The thesis, Developing an Optimized Sustainability Assessment Tool for Building Information Modelling (BIM) Systems: Incorporation of Hygrothermal Modelling into BIM, was supervised by him with Professor John Tookey and Associate Professor Nicola Naismith, with thanks to the examiners James Sommerville and Alessandro Premier.
Its subject sits at the intersection of two of his research interests. Hygrothermal modelling predicts how heat and moisture move through building assemblies, and therefore where condensation and mould will occur; BIM holds the information about those assemblies. Bringing them together allows sustainability assessment to consider durability and health, not only energy.
Why it matters
A pass with minor amendments is a strong outcome in doctoral examination. The completion was his sixth as supervisor, following three completions in November 2019, and it marked a growing doctoral programme in the department.
Doctoral supervision is one of the most consequential forms of academic leadership: each completion is several years of guidance, and each graduate carries the research forward into new institutions. His supervision record is set out in full in its own section of this site.
The research question
Moisture problems have been among the most costly failures in New Zealand buildings, as the leaky homes crisis showed. A sustainability assessment that ignores hygrothermal behaviour can rate a building highly while missing the conditions that will cause it to decay. Integrating that behaviour into BIM based assessment addresses a gap with direct relevance to the country’s building stock.