The existing residential building stock accounts for a substantial portion of worldwide energy consumption and greenhouse emissions. Improvements to the thermal performance of existing buildings is a vital activity to mitigate climate change, and often has additional benefits in the form of improved comfort, health and well-being for occupants. Despite the extensive body of literature in this area, it remains a difficult task to assess the performance of retrofit packages in occupied residential buildings.

While household mould growth has been increasingly highlighted in response to its adverse health outcomes and building management burden, studies are reviewed respectively from perspective of epidemiological survey, or building technology. This paper thus presents a literature review to address the building environment and mould exposure in homes, including the mould growth and exposure characteristics, interaction with building features, design requirements from current standards.

This paper provides a review of research that addresses the relationship between indoor temperatures and health outcomes, taking into consideration studies that focus heat or cold exposure within the household context. It aims to extend previous research by considering both indoor temperatures from existing housing, and empirical studies that focus on energy efficiency measures and subsequent health impacts. To achieve this aim, a literature review was undertaken, combining engineering and health databases.