Dr Yamuna Kaluarachchi
School: The School of Surveying & Planning
Position: Reader
Biography
Chartered architect by profession Yamuna joined Kingston in October 2008 with a strong research background and is involved in many national and international research projects. She completed her PhD in Architecture at University of Cambridge and MSc in the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. She was awarded the 'University of Greenwich Early Career Research Excellence Award' in July 2008. Her expertise include, Sustainable refurbishment, Social housing, Stakeholder engagement, and Behavioural changes to enhance low carbon living. Yamuna contributes to the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching as well as promote the research profile of the school. As the Research Student Director she is mainly involved with enhancing the PhD provision in the School. While in Greenwich University, Yamuna carried out research in many EPSRC projects including SUE-IDCOP (Innovation in the Design, Construction and Operation of buildings for People) and 'Innovation and Egan Compliance in Social Housing' winning the award winning EPSRC funded 'Sustainable living and the older community' Public Engagement project. Yamuna has published in internationally acclaimed refereed journals on Sustainable refurbishment, Innovation in the construction industry and Stakeholder engagement. She has presented many papers in international conferences and is an invited member of editorial boards for a number of refereed international journals.
Related links
- University helps older householders reduce their carbon footprint and cut their energy bills, Universities Guide Europe,
- Team to help pensioners pursue cheap energy, energyhelpline.com
- Research Reports, The Wall Street Journal, 29 May 2009
- Project empowers pensioners to beat the blight of fuel poverty, Science Centric
- Project empowers pensioners to beat the blight of fuel poverty, Kingston University, 19 May 2009
- Project empowers penioners to beat the blight of fuel poverty, Kingston University, Press Office
- Case Study - Sustainable Living and the Older Community
- Award for community energy saving project, 15 February 2010
Research expertise
Yamuna's research interests and expertise include Sustainable social housing refurbishment, Stakeholder engagement, Changing behaviour to enhance low carbon living and Independent/ assisted living provision for the elderly in UK & Europe. Research on EPSRC project 'Innovation and Egan Compliance in Social Housing' liaised with 50 housing associations, contractors and developers to review government housing policy, legislation and international best practice in innovative & sustainable construction in the social housing sector. Her research on EPSRC SUE-IDCOP developed sustainable façade technologies and enhanced methods for building refurbishment. This work also focused on the culture of the industry developing smart, innovative facilities management techniques to enhance the quality of life of occupants and organisational decision making. Yamuna won an EPSRC public engagement project to engage the older community in the current sustainable debate in order to stimulate their interest in, and raise awareness of climate change & sustainable living practices. University of Greenwich, Age Concern, Friends of the Elderly and Energy Saving Trust were collaborators of the project with the aim of promoting low carbon living and reducing fuel poverty in the elderly community. Currently Yamuna is working towards a number European projects on Ageing Population and Urban Design themes with the collaboration of Universities from Spain, France, Sweden, Turkey and Lithuania.
1. Kaluarachchi Y., 'How prepared are the elderly and their built assets to extreme weather events in England?', International Journal for Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment Special themed issue titled "improving resilience of existing infrastructure and built assets against extreme weather, January 2013.
2. Kaluarachchi Y. & Jones K., 'Promoting low carbon home adaptations and behavioural changes in the Older Community', Architectural Engineering and Design Management- Special Issue – 'The Impact of the Building Occupant on Energy Consumption' , December 2012.
3. Jones K., Desai A. & Kaluarachchi Y., 'The Journey to Low Carbon Social Housing' presented to CIB W70 conference, January 2012, Cape Town, South Africa
4. Kaluarachchi Y. & Eames K., December 2009, A Guide to Sustainable Green Living, Faculty of Art Design & Architecture, Kingston University ISBN 978-0-9554744-6-0.
5. Kaluarachchi Y., 'Incorporating Solar Energy into a Sustainable Housing Development Strategy in UK', The Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors 13th Annual Congress 17-18th August 2009, Kuala-Lampur, Malaysia. Internet Publication 'The Institute of Surveyors Malaysia- ISM WiKi http://ismwiki.vms.my/index.php/Incorporating_Solar_Energy_into_a_Sustainable_Housing_Development_Strategy_In_UK#Fulltext
6. Kaluarachchi Y. & Jones K, 'Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainable Housing Refurbishment in UK' SUEMoT Conference 2009, 2nd International Conference on Whole Life Urban Sustainability and its Assessment, April 2009, Loughborough, UK, ISBN 13 978 0 947974 81 7
7. Kaluarachchi Y. & Jones K, 'Monitoring of a Strategic Partnering Process- the Amphion Experience', October 2007, Construction Management and Economics, Volume 25, Issue 10, 1053 Routledge, ISSN 01446193.
8. Kaluarachchi Y. & Jones K, July 2007, 'Promoting innovative Technologies in the Housing Sector in the UK' published in the Construction Management and Economics 25th Anniversary Conference proceedings, University of Reading, UK.
9. Jones K. & Kaluarachchi Y, 'Performance Measurement of a Major Innovation Programme', Jan 2008, Benchmarking- an International Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., Vol 15, No2 ISSN 1463-5771
10. Jones K. & Kaluarachchi Y, 'Operational factors Affecting Strategic Partnering in UK Social Housing', Journal of Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol 14, No 4, 2007
Teaching areas & responsibilities
Undergraduate:
Building Survey & Inspection, Research Journal in Context, Dissertation and Critical Practice Project
Postgraduate:
Research Concepts for the Built Environment, Sustainable European Built Environment Research Proposal for Dissertation, Dissertation/Master's Project Proposal for Sustainable Place Making and Urban Design, Conference Paper
Professional activity
- 2009 - presentMember Editoral Board, International Journal of Disaster Prevention & Management
- 2009 - presentMember Editorial Board, The Construction Annual Review
Educational and professional qualifications
- 2002Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge
- 1992Fellow Cambridge Commonwealth Society
- 1991Associate Member Sri Lanka Institute of Architects
- 1991Chartered Architect / Associate Member Royal Institute of British Architects
- 1991Part 3 Examination Royal Institute of British Architects
- 1989Master of Science in Architecture Bartlett School of Architecture & Planning, University College London
- 1988Part 2 Examination Royal Institute of British Architects
- 1988Master of Science in Architecture University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
- 1985Part 1 Examination Royal Institute of British Architects
- 1985Bachelor of Science in Built Environment University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Conferences & events
European collaborations
» Dorich House bid on 'Ageing Poplulation and the European Housing Provision' with Spain, France and Slovinia for an EU Framework Proposal.
» Dorich House bid on Urban design' with Sweden, France and Slovinia for an EU Framework Proposal.
Invited Seminars
Sustainability Hub Seminar Series, Kingston University, 'Stakeholder Engagement & Sustainable Living and the Older Community', C-SCAIPE Debating Chamber, Main Building, Penrhyn Road, March 2010.
International Conferences
» Paper entitled 'Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainable Housing Refurbishment in UK' presented at SUEMoT Conference 2009, 2nd International Conference on Whole Life Urban Sustainability and its Assessment, April 2009, Loughborough, UK.
» Paper entitled 'Accelerating Innovation in the Social Housing Sector in UK' presented in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, COBRA 2008 conference in Dublin, 4-5 September 2008.
» Paper entitled 'Accelerating Innovation in the Built Environment by Research and Education' presented at CIB W 89 Building Education and Research International Conference, BEAR 2008 in Kandalama, Sri Lanka, 10-15th February 2008
» Paper entitled 'Promoting innovative Technologies in the Housing Sector in the UK' presented in the Construction Management and Economics 25th Anniversary Conference , University of Reading, UK, 16th-18th July 2007
» Presented paper "The Relevance of Innovative Environment Technologies in the Sustainable Refurbishment of the Social Housing Sector in UK" in the 'World Conference on Accelerating Excellence in Built Environment' in Birmingham, October 2006.
» Presented paper "A Sustainable Maintenance and Refurbishment strategy for the residential sector in UK" in the World Congress on Sustainable Housing Design, Naples, Italy September 2006.
» Presented paper 'Incorporating solar energy into a sustainable housing development strategy in UK' in the 'Solar Cities World Congress, 4-6 April 2006, University of Oxford, Oxford.
Consultancy
CPD work shop- Dorich House Research group- Ageing Population- Cadiz, Spain February 2011
Grants, funding and awards
- 2011Academic Network for Disaster Resilience to Optimise Educational Development (ANDRIOD)
- 2010Final shortlist for Sustain Magazine Award EPSRC
- 2010Final shortlist Green Gown Award EPSRC
- 2009 - 2010EPSRC - Partnerships for Public Engagement
- 2009Highly Commended Certificate in Green Guardian Award
- 2008University of Greenwich Early Career Research Excellence Award
Research groups & programmes
Research supervision
External research supervision
- 2012Menaha Thayaparan PhD
University of Salford - 2011Lilian Ngozi Madubuko PhD
University of Salford
Publications
Article
Jones, Keith and Kaluarachchi, Yamuna (2008) Performance measurement and benchmarking of a major innovation programme. Benchmarking : an international journal, 15(2), pp. 124-136. ISSN (print) 1463-5771
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna D. and Jones, Keith (2007) Monitoring of a strategic partnering process: the Amphion experience. Construction Management and Economics, 25(10), pp. 1053-1061. ISSN (print) 0144-6193
Jones, Keith and Kaluarachchi, Yamuna (2007) Operational factors affecting strategic partnering in UK social housing. Engineering Construction & Architectural Management, 14(4), pp. 334-345. ISSN (print) 0969-9988
Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K., James, P., Jentsch, M., Bahaj, A. S., Clements-Croome, D. and Gann, D. (2005) Building facades: sustainability, maintenance and refurbishment. Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability, 158(ES2), pp. 89-95. ISSN (print) 1478-4629
Book
Kaluarachchi, Y. D. and Eames, K. A. T. (2009) A guide to sustainable green living: sustainable living and the older community. Kingston upon Thames, U.K. : Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Kingston University. 39p. ISBN 9780955474460
Conference or Workshop Item
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna (2009) Incorporating solar energy into a sustainable housing development strategy in the UK. In: The Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors 13th Annual Congress; 17-18 Aug 2009, Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia.
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2009) Stakeholder engagement in sustainable housing refurbishment in the UK. In: SUE-MoT Second international conference on whole life urban sustainability and its assessment; 22 - 24 Apr 2009, Loughborough, U.K.. (Unpublished)
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2008) Accelerating innovation in the social housing sector in the UK. In: COBRA 2008: RICS Construction and Building Research Conference; 04 - 05 Sep 2008, Dublin, Ireland. ISBN 9781842194348
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2008) Accelerating innovation in the built environment by research and education in the UK. In: Building Resilience: CIB International Conference on Building Education and Research; 11 - 15 Feb 2008, Sri Lanka. ISBN 9781905732364
Jones, Keith and Kaluarachchi, Yamuna (2007) Promoting innovative technologies in the housing sector in the UK. In: CME 25 Construction Management and Economics: Past, Present and Future; 16 - 18 Jul 2007, Reading, U.K..
Kaluarachchi, Y. and Jones, K. (2006) The relevance of innovative environment technologies in the sustainable refurbishment of the social housing sector in UK. In: World Conference on Accelerating Excellence in the Built Environment (WCAEBE 2006); 02 - 04 Oct 2006, Birmingham, U.K.. (Unpublished)
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2006) A sustainable maintenance and refurbishment strategy for the residential sector in UK. In: XXXIV IAHS World Congress Sustainable Housing Design: Emphasizing Urban Housing; 20 - 23 Sep 2006, Naples, Italy. (Unpublished)
Chen, Z., Clements-Croome, D.J., Hong, J., Li, H., Kaluarachchi, Y., Jones, K.G., James, P.A.B., Jentsch, M. and Bahaj, A.S. (2005) A facade casebase for teaching and learning intelligent buildings. In: CISBAT 2005: Renewables in a Changing Climate - Innovation in Building Envelopes and Environmental Systems; 27 - 28 Sep 2005, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Kaluarachchi, Y., James, P.A.B., Jentsch, M.F. and Bahaj, A.S. (2005) Building facades: issues of sustainability, maintenance and refurbishment. In: EPSRC SUE Vision into Action; 28 Feb - 02 Mar 2005, Birmingham, U.K..
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2004) Improving the delivery of social housing in UK: using the Amphion initiative as a case study. In: 20th Annual ARCOM Conference; 01 - 03 Sep 2004, Edinburgh, U.K.. ISBN 0953416194 (Unpublished)
Kaluarachchi, Yamuna and Jones, Keith (2004) Benchmarking Egan compliance in social housing in UK: using case studies from Amphion housing programme. In: Housing Studies Association Spring Conference 2004: Transforming social housing; 15 - 16 Apr 2004, Sheffield, U.K.. (Unpublished)
