
Dr Arman Hashemi
Associate Professor
Sustainability Research Institute (SRI), Environmental Design and Performance Research Group (EDPRG)
Department of Architecture & Visual Arts , School Of Architecture, Computing And Engineering
Dr Hashemi is the Programme Leader for BSc (Hons) Architectural Design Technology (ADT). He has over 20 years of experience in practice and academia in the UK and overseas. He has been involved in numerous award-winning research, design and construction projects. His primary research is on building performance evaluation with a focus on energy, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in buildings. He is leading/co-leading two multidisciplinary research groups at University of East London, namely the Environmental Design and Performance Research Group and the Resilient Built Environment Research Group. Dr Hashemi is also the Regional Director of the ZEMCH Network in England. He has served as an Expert Panel Member on the UKRI/NERC Strategic Priorities Fund on Clean Air and is also a panel member of the CIAT Climate Change Group that aims to prepare an industry Climate Change Action Plan to respond to climate challenges, in response to CIAT commitment to reaching Net Zero Carbon by 2050. He has been acting as a guest editor, scientific chair and as a member of the editorial boards and scientific committees of numerous international journals and conferences.
Qualifications
- PhD
- MSc
- BSc
- CMI Dip
- PGCert
Areas Of Interest
- Building Performance Evaluation/Simulation
- Modern/Offsite Methods of Construction (MMC)
OVERVIEW
Dr Hashemi is the Programme Leader for BSc (Hons) Architectural Design Technology. Prior to this position, he was a Senior Lecturer in Architectural Technology at University of Brighton. He has been responsible for the first Full Accreditation of the ADT Course by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) and is currently leading on the Initial Accreditation of the ADT course by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).
Dr Hashemi holds a PhD from the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK and an MSc and BSc in Architecture from University of Tehran, Iran. After completing his PhD, he joined the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL as a postdoctoral research associate and designed and built an award-winning patented automated Thermal Shutter System. He then joined the University of Cambridge as the lead postdoctoral researcher working on a £0.75m EPSRC/DFID/DECC funded research project: "Energy and Low-Income Tropical Housing".
Dr Hashemi is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (MCMI), an Associate Member of the Chartered institute of Architectural Technologists (ACIAT), and a Member of the Iranian Construction Engineers Organisation.
He is currently supervising three funded PhD projects including: Healthy Homes: Design and retrofit strategies for improved occupants' health and wellbeing; and EPSRC funded PhD project on 'Retrofitting space heating systems for historic churches: meeting the needs of conservation, community and environmental sustainability.' SEAHA (Science and Engineering in Arts Heritage and Archaeology) is an EPSRC funded PhD research training programme as a collaboration between UCL, Oxford and Brighton.
CURRENT RESEARCH
The results of Dr Hashemi's research have been documented in numerous publications including refereed journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, edited books and patents. His research interests can be classified under two main areas:
Building Performance Evaluation
Dr Hashemi's primary research is on building performance evaluation/simulation with a focus on energy efficiency and health and wellbeing in buildings. The key research areas include:
- Indoor Air Quality
- Thermal Comfort
- Natural Lighting
- Energy Efficiency; and
- Performance Gap
His research on the above areas has been through various means and methods including physical tests, post occupancy evaluation, simulation and/or laboratory tests. Probably his most significant achievement during the recent years has been the design and development of an internationally-patented, multi-award winning thermal shutter system which can also act as a natural light reflector, solar shade and a secondary security device. The invented product benefits from innovative drive mechanisms and control strategies mixed with the most advanced materials to achieve significant savings of over 60 per cent in electric lighting and over 63 per cent in heat-losses through windows.
Energy and health and wellbeing in housing, and particularly in low-income housing, is another area of his research which he started at the University of Cambridge and is now continuing at UEL. The research intends to identify, and then begin to propagate, methods of reducing the energy consumption of low-income housing.
Indoor air quality and air pollutants, in general, and moisture, dampness and the risk of mould growth, in particular, are the other areas of his research. Dampness is affecting a significant share of buildings in Europe, North America, Australia, India and Japan making it a major issue around the world. Dr Hashemi's research aims to improve energy efficiency while reducing the risks of dampness and mould growth in buildings.
Offsite/Modern Methods of Construction
In his PhD, Dr Hashemi studied the relevance of Modern/Offsite Methods of Construction to delivering sustainable housing in the UK and in developing countries. His research then expanded into more recent issues such as Mass Customisation and Building Information Modelling (BIM) in offsite construction. He has been doing research and publication in these areas along with a team of experts in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Middle East. The main objectives are to investigate the reasons for the success and failure of prefabricated methods in different countries and to address housing shortages in both developed and developing countries.
RESEARCH AND IMPACT
Dr Hashemi's research and R&D activities have been commended for their potential impact on the construction industry. He has received multiple awards on his construction and research projects including the CIOB International Innovation & Research Premier Award; and the CIOB International I&R Innovation Achiever's Highly Commended Award in 2015.
FUNDING
Dr Hashemi has led and contributed to several research projects with values up to £750K. He is currently leading on a few funded projects as the PI including:
- Health Energy Efficient Dwellings (HEED) (PI, UKRI/MRC-£187K)
- Robotic Construction in the UK and China (PI, British Council-£50K)
- Pre-retrofit assessments on energy and indoor air quality in Newham Council properties (PI, LBN-£44K)
- Sustainability Decathlon (Co-PI, OCSD-$100K)
- Zero-Carbon Mass Customised Housing (PI, UEL-£62.5K)
- East London Impact Scholars Awards 2022/23 (PI, UEL-£6K)
Dr Hashemi is currently collaborating with the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) at UEL on the Eastern New Energy (ENE) project that has received funding from ERDF as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme. He is involved in multiple Knowledge Exchange projects with the industry on subjects related to Energy Modelling, R&D and Product Development. Dr Hashemi's previously funded research projects include:
- 2021-22 (PI-£30,450): Buildings in Russia- Adaptation and Mitigation for Climate Change
- 2019 (Co-I, €100K): Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 (British Council).
- 2015-16 (PI, £19.5K): SETRIF 2015-16 grant. Energy Efficient Healthy Homes (UoB).
- 2013-14 (PI, £30K): Innovation Voucher on mitigating risks of condensation, dampness, and mould growth in renovated properties (UCLan & Mistoria).
- 2014-16 (RA & Collaborator, £750K): Energy and Low-Income Tropical Housing, University of Cambridge (EPSRC/DFID/DECC)
- 2009-11 (RA, £150K): Automated Thermal Shutter System, University College London (KTP project).
TEACHING
MODULES
Dr Hashemi has been teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students on subjects related to architectural design; construction methods and technologies; virtual design and fabrication; and building performance evaluation.
Dr Hashemi uses examples from research and building projects to make difficult subjects more interesting and understandable for students. Students are encouraged to pay attention to details and critically evaluate, and present their design works.
Dr Hashemi also encourages students to take on new challenges and, when applicable, present/publish the results of their research projects in international conferences and journals. In addition to access to library and online resources, students use drawing studios; computer labs; energy modelling, design and fabrication software packages; modelling workshops, 3D printers and laser cutters to deliver their projects.
Publications
Browse past publications by year.
Full publications list
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications
- Indoor Environmental Quality and Health Implications of Building Retrofit and Occupant Behaviour in Social Housing Sustainability. 17 (264). https://doi.org/10.3390/su17010264
- Analysing Indoor Air Pollution: A Study on Pollutant Levels and Air Quality Assessment in Social Housing Properties Environmental Science and Sustainable Development. 9 (3), pp. 47-57. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v9i3.1072
- Evaluating Thermal Comfort and Overheating Risks in A Social Housing Prototype: As-Built Versus Retrofit Scenarios Environmental Science and Sustainable Development. 9 (2), pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v9i2.1073
- Comparative Assessment of Insulation Materials for Improving Indoor Air Quality in Building Retrofit Environmental Science and Sustainable Development. 9 (2), pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v9i2.1071
- Analysis of greenhouse gas mitigation performance in UK urban areas Carbon Management. 13 (1), pp. 463-481. https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2022.2120418
- Historic Churches and Their Hygrothermal Environment: A Review of Criteria Related to Building Fabric, Artefacts, Artwork and Occupants Sustainability. 14 (Art. 7822). https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137822
- Comparative performance analysis of Vacuum Insulation Panels in thermal window shutters Energy Procedia. 157, pp. 837-843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2018.11.249
- Assessment of solar shading strategies in low-income tropical housing: the case of Uganda Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability. 172 (6), pp. 293-301. https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.17.00072
- Integrating BIM with building performance analysis in project life-cycle Automation in Construction. 106 (Art. 102861). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2019.102861