News analysis with BESA
Put well-being fi rst and get Net Zero too
Putting the health and well-being of occupants fi rst will also help building owners meet their carbon reduction goals, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
T
he growing clamour to improve standards of ventilation to protect the health, well-being and productivity of building occupants should also shape the national programme of residential and commercial retrofi ts needed to deliver better energy effi ciency and lower operating costs. Several legal and technical developments this
year will fi x attention specifi cally on fi nding the right balance between energy effi ciency and good indoor air quality (IAQ). For example, the proposed Future Homes and Buildings Standards will introduce more stringent air tightness requirements from next year by tightening up the Air Permeability Index (API) levels currently used in the Building Regulations. Also, many more projects are now using Passivhaus design principles which require the building to be airtight to achieve stated energy effi ciency levels. Barry Cope, managing director of the Air Tightness
Testing and Measurement Association (ATTMA), says airtight buildings are already proving their value, but it is important to prioritise ventilation. “Air tightness technologies are developing
exponentially,” he says. “Improved standards have cut national heating demand in a typical UK winter by 35% and made people more comfortable in their homes. “However, some of the materials used to seal buildings in the past were not pleasant and have been responsible for high levels of off gassing…which is why ventilation has always been so important.” He also reported regular calls from the Daily Mail asking why “airtight homes were killing people”.
Embrace
“Airtight homes don’t kill people, but under- ventilated ones do,” he pointed out and urged the industry to embrace the new technologies that can deliver buildings that are both more airtight and better ventilated.
“If we don’t build more airtight homes, the cost to
the country caused by excess cold and the growth of damp and mould will be huge,” said Cope. “This has major implications for the NHS – and the solutions don’t need to cost a lot more because the
installed by unqualifi ed people. They are rarely commissioned properly, and levels of maintenance are lamentable. However, the development of the world’s fi rst
standard focused on health and well-being in buildings is another step forward towards better practice and improved training. British Standard 40102 (Part One) is the fi rst
“If the building engineering community starts working to the standard, it will make a huge diff erence to the life expectancy and quality of life of millions of building occupants all over the world” – Dave Kieft
appropriate technologies can fi t into the building process as a simple extra step so long as it is included in the design.” Improving air barriers is also essential to reduce the amount of moisture in our buildings’ fabric as it reduces the amount of condensation caused by external and internal temperature diff erences. We now have access to a range of highly eff ective air permeable techniques that make this much easier to achieve these days, but the need for the ventilation and the air tightness industries to work more closely together is clear. The role of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat
Recovery (MVHR) systems is also directly in the spotlight as more housebuilders adopt this technology to achieve better EPC ratings. However, too many of these systems are being incorrectly
standards of its type and was created to support delivery of a similarly unique piece of legislation passed by the government of Wales – the 2015 Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. It was showcased at the recent COP28 international climate conference in Dubai and is being widely adopted in the Middle East to help address that region’s particular air quality issues. “If the building engineering community starts working to the standard, it will make a huge diff erence to the life expectancy and quality of life of millions of building occupants all over the world,” said the standard’s sponsor and champion Dave Kieft, chairman of the Swansea-based indoor air quality (IAQ) specialist EFT Consult. BS40102, which will be formally launched in the UK later this year, provides recommendations for measuring, monitoring, and reporting indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in all types of non- domestic buildings. It includes an evaluation and rating system for air quality, lighting, thermal comfort, and acoustics. Kieft explained that those developing the
standard were motivated to reduce the costs associated with ill-health and the pressures exerted on public services by poor IEQ in new and existing buildings which would support “the well-being needs of current and future generations”. “Facilities managers will play an increasingly important healthcare role,” he said. “The exponential rise in respiratory illnesses and other chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and impaired mental health, particularly among the young, can be directly linked to poor IEQ and the fact that they spend more than 90% of their time indoors.”
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February 2024
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