Wind Comfort Analysis – The Tulip, London, UK

Windtech Consultants were engaged as a key wind engineer on the Tulip Development in London during the design and planning application phase of the project, undertaking a pedestrian microclimate wind comfort analysis. The study was undertaken using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, which allowed for variations in the built form to be assessed effectively and efficiently. All pedestrian accessible areas within and around the site boundary were assessed according to the specified criteria listed under the City of London Wind Microclimate Guidelines, including public amenity areas, public/private terrace regions as well as private balcony locations. Outputs included various contour images of wind speed as well as wind velocity vectors, enabling a holistic understanding of the various wind effects induced.

Overall, the inclusion of the proposed development showed no considerable effects on its surroundings in terms of wind comfort for pedestrians. Only a few areas within the development showed some localised sections where occupants may be at risk of discomfort due to incoming wind from the prevalent south-westerly direction. Recommendations were made in order to satisfy the occupancy safety criteria in trafficable areas where the intended use did not satisfy the current wind speed criteria.

The CFD modelling approach used for the analysis is also extremely robust, which was demonstrated when a wind tunnel model study, undertaken by a different wind consultant in line with the City of London requirements resulted in wind speed estimates within 10% of our CFD model predictions. This is only made possible by significant benchmark testing of CFD with physical testing in Windtech’s own wind tunnel.