Aimee Byrne

Ireland

Working Groups: WG1

Scientific Expertise
Sustainable engineering, adaptation to long-term environmental changes; Thermodynamics for materials engineering applications; Structural properties of materials; Retrofit, sustainable buildings and energy efficiency; sustainable buildings & retrofit

Scientific Background
"Products: • PI ‘Wunderfloor’: prototype click-clack reusable underfloor heating • PI BIO-RACE: developing composites from residues and low-value materials into modular reusable panels. • A PI for SAOLWood: ‘Sustainable construction and Assessment Of the full Lifecycle impact of Irish harvested Wood products’ BIM: • 6 years teaching & 36hrs training completed • Sustainability WP Communications Officer for ‘Build Digital’ • My SAOLWood task: developing integrated BIM-LCA approach for sustainable building certification. DfA/DfD/DfC: • My SAOLWood task: develop deconstruction principles, optimising manufacturing, assembly and installation processes. • My BIO-RACE task: panels designed and tested for assembly, construction, in-use and deconstruction. Existing buildings: • Retrofit expertise since 2009, 124 citations of my retrofit journal papers, and my own PhD examined policy, user, thermal and technical aspects of retrofit schemes. • Guest Lecturer on retrofit. • My SAOLWood task: developing timber retrofit principles."

Motivation
I have a passion for sustainable buildings and want to play an active role in the change to a truly circular economy. My 6 year plan included making circularity my leading research area by 2024, evidenced by 8 circularity-based proposals in the last 2 years and the invitation to write an expert article on Circularity in the Built Environment for the Engineers Ireland Yearbook 2023. I also proposed, designed and deliver the 'Circular Built Environment’ topic within our new sustainability module. I am Founder and Lead of the Bio- and Circular Economies Research Group at TU Dublin and have recruited over 40 members from diverse disciplines including Civil & Structural Engineering, Architecture, Surveying & Construction, Planning, Economics and Management, to name a few. One of our aims is to create a network of groups and centres across Europe facilitating collaboration, learning and sharing best practice which will reciprocally support CircularB.

Contribution
Although I will contribute to the research and implementation of all tasks, the following is how I can additionally / uniquely contribute. T1.1 & T1.2: Share findings from BIO-RACE review and analysis of circular building products and SAOLWood’s reviews of construction practices, typologies and LCA data. T1.3: Use of my network of companies and agencies to discuss and inform e.g. Engineers Ireland, Arup, Irish Green Building Council, product manufacturers, and modular companies T1.4 Use of my experience in designing e-learning content for my undergraduate courses, engineers Ireland, ICS, Hothouse, and EU Erasmus+ Lifelong Learning project. T1.7 Use of my retrofit expertise and network. Sharing the developed retrofit principals from SAOLWood. T1.8 Use of my extensive BIM experience (including Revit & Navisworks). I can build models and adapt designs. T1.9 I can draw on my own LCA knowledge and review our findings in BIM – LCA model integration for SAOLWood.