Clarence Macalister is a scientist, carpenter and accredited builder. Over 20+ years in the building industry, he has worked on a wide range of building defects and rectification. Most of his time spent “on the tools” tackling projects from the normal to very unusual.
He deals with many complex matters like condensation, energy efficiency, groundwater, salinity, waterproofing, etc, assessing and working out specific practical solutions. This involves a load of technical knowledge mixed with years of building site and problem-solving experience. He works closely with Dr Mark Dewsbury on several projects.
Since 2019, Clarence has been the Master Builders Tasmania representative for all matters to do with condensation and mould. This has included developing and delivering training on condensation management with various industry experts. This training has been delivered to over 500 attendees. He is on the ABCB Technical Reference Group for Condensation.
Mark Dewsbury
Since 2008, Dr Dewsbury has been actively pursuing concerns about the confluence of energy efficient homes, moisture and mould, which have often resulted from design decisions and building regulations, building occupant expectations, construction systems, energy efficiency requirements and construction stage water control. By contrast in 2009 the World Health Organisation recommended that any visible presence of mould within the built environment will affect occupant health. Other nations adopted transient hygrothermal and bio-hygrothermal simulation tools with Mould Growth Indices (MI) as a key indicator for the climatic suitability of building envelope systems. Recognising these trends, in 2014 Dr Dewsbury was one of the first researchers in Australia to use desktop simulation tools for moisture accumulation and mould growth within typical Australian building envelope construction systems. The challenge for sustainable net zero buildings is for them to be thermally comfortable, well ventilated, and not support moisture accumulation or mould growth.