BSEE VENTILATION
counter this trend is by taking steps to improve the quality of air inside the workplace.
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Chris Jones, Product Manager at FläktGroup, explains why mechanical venlaon is a great opon to improve the comfort and concentraon of employees, especially in buildings that are located in polluted and noisy city centres.
Employee productivity is currently a hot topic in the UK. That’s because, as the Bank of England recently said, total productivity (i.e. output per worker) since 2007 was the worst since the late 18th Century – around the time of the industrial revolution.
The reason this is so important is the lower the productivity, the harder people have to work for the same end result – eating into the economy’s potential growth rate and impacting overall living standards.
A new report, however, has found that workplace optimisation could be the key to unleashing employee productivity. It suggests that developing the optimal office could generate a boost to UK GDP (£36.8bn), larger than the economic activity generated by the local authority of Birmingham each year.
Numerous studies show that indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important contributing factor to a healthy and productive working environment. The problem is that air pollution levels are rising and the UK government is facing fines from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) if it doesn’t address the problem swiftly.
On top of this, owners and managers of commercial buildings are under pressure to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. So putting in place steps to deliver solutions that deliver better IAQ can be a challenge.
Fortunately, new technology is providing the opportunity for efficiency and air quality to be simultaneously achieved.
Natural venlaon
uFläktGroup’s eCO PREMIUM range uses the heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming air via an airtoair heat exchanger mounted within the MVHR.
In busy urban areas, outdoor air pollution discourages occupants from opening windows for ventilation, yet it is needed to avoid workplaces from overheating in the warmer months. And in the winter, opening windows creates draughts, which are a major source of heat loss and can make rooms feel uncomfortably chilly.
This is the dilemma faced by specifiers
arely a month goes by without another report into the UK’s persistent productivity problems. One way in which bullding managers can
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IAQ – KEY TO EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY Opmising the workplace with technology
working on buildings that are exposed to high levels of noise and outdoor pollution. However, by designing a comprehensive ventilation system for a building, it is possible to create an optimum microclimate to deliver a healthy environment that doesn’t have to compromise energy efficiency.
A mechanical soluon
One proven efficient, and cost- effective, solution is the use of mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) units. These work by extracting moist, stale air from the interior of the building and replacing it with fresh filtered air from outside. Solutions such as FläktGroup’s eCO PREMIUM range uses the heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming air via an air-to-air heat exchanger mounted within the MVHR. This technology ticks the box both in terms of IAQ and energy efficiency by recovering 85 per cent thermal energy from outgoing air.
Like many energy-saving lighting
control systems, it can also automatically adjust to changing demands within a specific space, offering demand controlled ventilation. And with a presence detector, the system can switch on and off according to occupancy and an internal CO2
sensor adjusts the air
supply in accordance with the number of occupants.
As an added benefit in noisy towns and cities, this type of mechanical ventilation can also limit outside distractions, with smaller openings in the façade compared to natural ventilation which is assumed to be fully open. Any noise from the air handling unit (AHU) itself can be reduced by fitting silencers in the ductwork or close to the unit.
Importantly, the flow of outside air into the building helps to reduce the levels of allergens, as well as balancing moisture and humidity levels within the premises – all of which can vastly improve IAQ.
Improving producvity
A myriad of complex economic reasons have been blamed for the reduction in UK workforce productivity. However, a factor such as IAQ can be a relatively quick fix.
The latest heat recovery systems and demand control fans in mechanical ventilation units can improve employee comfort by delivering ‘fresh’ air – even where natural ventilation is not an option in congested urban areas. Designed for a wide range of applications in the commercial sector, including offices, education institutions, healthcare facilities and retail units, this technology can be harnessed by building managers to improve the environment for their workforce and help drive productivity in the process.
www.flaktgroup.com 28 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2018 VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.bsee.co.uk ‘
Owners and managers of commercial buildings are under pressure to improve energy eciency and reduce carbon emissions. So pung in place steps to deliver soluons that deliver beer IAQ can be a challenge. Fortunately, new technology is providing the opportunity for eciency and air quality to be simultaneously achieved.
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uVarious studies show that indoor air quality is a contribung factor to a healthy and producve working environment.
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