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HEALTH SECTOR NEWS Whitty calls for regular air quality monitoring
The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has welcomed another intervention by England’s Chief Medical Officer in the controversy surrounding poor air quality in buildings. Professor Chris Whitty has called for
offices and public buildings – including hospitals, schools, and supermarkets, to be regularly monitored for indoor air pollutants. He believes analysing the indoor air quality of many buildings should be made ‘standard practice’, and has called for investment in creating ‘indoor emission inventories’ as part of ‘a roadmap to cleaner indoor air’. This follows his 2022 annual report where he wrote that IAQ should be made a priority, as it was becoming ‘an increasing proportion of the overall problem’, with progress being made on tackling outdoor pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established that, globally, 3.8 million premature deaths are linked to poor indoor air every year out of a total of 8.7 million from general air pollution. “Indoor air pollution hasn’t received the same attention as outdoor air, even though it might cause almost as many deaths globally,” wrote the Professor in a co-authored article in the journal, Nature. “The lack of research makes it hard for governments to target policies and
and nature, including analysing the cocktail of contaminants that can lead to indoor air being many times more polluted than the outdoors. However, showing someone they have a problem is only the start. They must then be shown how to address the problem through competent professional advice
controls, while building owners may be oblivious to the health risks and how to reduce them.” The chair of BESA’s Health & Well- being in Buildings group, Nathan Wood (pictured, with Rosamund Kissi-Debrah), believes detailed monitoring is ‘a vital first step on the road to producing a more targeted IAQ strategy’, with the technology ‘already widely available, affordable, and becoming increasingly accurate’. He said: “The pandemic drew attention to the link between poor ventilation and disease transmission around buildings, and this accelerated the adoption of IAQ monitoring. We are now well placed to assess the challenge’s scale
UK’s ‘most sustainable and efficient primary care centre’ completed
Caddick Construction has completed United Healthcare Developments’ ‘state- of-the-art’, four-storey healthcare centre in Carlisle, which it dubs ‘the UK’s most sustainable and energy-efficient primary care centre’.
Building work at Carlisle Healthcare South Hub began in 2021, and has seen the creation of a BREEAM Outstanding development, with a large proportion of the building’s power supplied by renewable energy through rooftop photovoltaic panels. ‘Determined to address the energy-intensive needs of primary care facilities’, United Healthcare Developments ‘brought forward designs for a more sustainable healthcare facility’.
The company said: “The building’s energy performance is rated -3 / A+, making it carbon Net Zero. The envelope has been uniquely designed to the highest levels of efficiency, negating the need for a traditional heating system, and avoiding any reliance on fossil fuels. Each habitable room has a
and proven solutions.” BESA is also supporting the proposed Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, which would introduce specific responsibilities for building operators to meet IAQ targets in line with WHO guidance. Also known as Ella’s Law in memory of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who died 10 years ago from a severe asthma attack triggered by air pollution, the Bill is being spearheaded by her mother Rosamund, a prominent air quality campaigner, and Honorary President of the BESA group. BESA has produced a series of guides on addressing indoor air quality and building ventilation, which are freely available on its website.
Approval for new Hillingdon Hospital
Hillingdon Hospital in London is set to be transformed into a ‘new, state-of-the-art’ healthcare facility following unanimous approval by the London Borough of Hillingdon’s Major Applications Planning Committee. Arcadis IBI Group, which is providing
constant turnover of fresh air, creating an exceptionally comfortable working environment for users.”
David Brown, MD at United Healthcare Developments, added: “For the unique design of this building to work, and to achieve BREEAM Outstanding, all elements of the building’s construction had to be undertaken to the highest quality. It has been a pleasure working with Caddick Construction. As a team we have worked effectively, and I’m delighted that this flagship building is living up to all expectations.” Caddick’s North West team includes over 100 members of staff, and operates from offices in Warrington and Kendal.
masterplanning, healthcare planning, architecture, and landscape architecture services for the 79,000 m2
project,
says it will combine a new, ‘future-ready’ hospital with a mixed-use development that promotes healthy living. It said: “Hillingdon Hospital currently has an ageing hospital estate, and under the plans it will rebuilt to provide a larger emergency department, a new diagnostic centre, labour ward, and a critical care unit. The new hospital will be built near the existing one, which will remain operational throughout, before being demolished, releasing land for other uses.”
April 2023 Health Estate Journal 13
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