We are pleased to announce that a dedicated workshop on building airtightness will take place during the upcoming 45^th AIVC – ASHRAE IEQ – 13^th TightVent – 11^th venticool Conference, scheduled for 24–26 September 2025 in Montreal, Canada.

The workshop is entitled: “Durability of the Building Airtightness”. Below is a short overview of the workshop’s focus and scope:

Air leakages increasingly affect the energy performance of new buildings. Since the early 2000s, many countries have introduced regulations that emphasize airtightness, including mandatory standards, aligning with Europe’s goal of achieving nearly zero energy buildings by 2030. However, building airtightness requirements are only effective if the levels remain durable over time. Studies reveal that these mandates often lead to last-minute sealing efforts, compromising durability.

The long-term durability of airtightness products and assemblies remains a complex issue, involving:

• Modeling the mechanical behavior and deformations of buildings and products,
• Laboratory-based accelerated aging tests,
• Field measurements for performance characterization.

Recent studies have explored this through two primary approaches: analyzing real-building measurements to assess airtightness over time and conducting laboratory tests to simulate the accelerated aging of sealing products. This workshop will present insights from these approaches, including findings from the Durabilit’air 2 project, which focuses on understanding the long-term durability of airtightness in buildings.

The workshop is organized and chaired by Valérie Leprince and Andrés  Litvak (Cerema, France).

Further information is available on this link.