Feature
For those already in buildings, managers must have the necessary data and technologies to understand the rooms and layouts within their buildings, especially as this changes in light of the pandemic. Then, they can allocate spaces according to the air change rate – deciding who works where based on where it will be healthiest for them. This ensures the indoor air quality is optimal depending on the room’s occupancy, which elevates employees’ experience at work. Buildings have the most significant effect on high thinking workers, and the right systems can increase the productivity and even the IQ2 benefitting businesses and their staff alike.
humidity and temperature both impact health and comfort, that doesn’t mean we should be putting air conditioning on full blast. In this way, there must be a clear balance.
of employees,
For developers, meanwhile, building usage must be modelled into plans from the very beginning. Variable air conditioning should be implemented and built into air conditioning design, as this provides variability depending on the occupancy of a room. Rather than designing buildings around minimum occupancy levels, as is the current norm, developers will need to understand and cater for the maximum occupancy of a building. This small change could save lives, improving air quality for everyone. Once this is done, sensors should be installed to vary the air according to occupancy, meaning that the air quality will be at optimum levels no matter the number of people in the room or building.
Making healthy buildings a reality
The technologies that enable healthy buildings cannot come at the expense of the planet. To this end, creating a healthier workspace must go hand in hand with sustainability. While
1
:
https://www.who.int/news/item/15-03-2016-an-estimated-12-6-million-deaths-each- year-are-attributable-to-unhealthy-environments 2:
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1510037
Rather than focussing solely on sustainability or the employee experience, businesses should prioritise occupancy to help meet ESG and efficiency targets, while getting the most out of their employees. The hard work is done when the sensors and other technologies can predict occupancy levels. These sensors can then feed the data back through to ensure the appropriate changes can be implemented. This is how we can get the most out of our buildings. It can then be useful to use building performance indicators and match this against staff data; for example, to monitor staff sick leave in comparison to building health data to get a better overall picture of the impact buildings are having on staff. Then, if anything is wrong, it can be actioned – prioritising employee health without undue costs or sacrificing the health of the planet.
There has never been more of a need to understand and
prioritise occupancy, especially as offices prepare for permanent reopening. Businesses should be asking themselves how they will use their buildings moving forward, and what procedures need to be put in place to bring health and safety top of the agenda.
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