News analysis with BESA
Action on IAQ standard E
xperts invited from across the industry gathered at BESA’s head office in London to discuss a wide range of IAQ topics and begin work on the
Standard.
Clean Air in London director Simon Birkett told the meeting that IAQ was the “cheapest and quickest way to protect people” and urged BESA’s working party to continue its work and help transform buildings into “safe havens” capable of protecting their occupants from the worst impacts of worsening air pollution. The Association’s head of sustainability David Frise
drew direct links between air pollution and a range of diseases including respiratory and cardiovascular
Well-being
Emeritus Professor Derek Clements-Croome of Reading University said the impact the indoor environment had
ndoor Air Quality (IAQ) is the quickest and cheapest way to protect people from worsening air pollution, according to one of the country’s
foremost clean air campaigners. Speaking at a special IAQ event held to mark the
UK’s first ever National Clean Air Day on June 15, Clean Air in London founder Simon Birkett said IAQ must become part of the building planning process. He told the meeting, which was organised and hosted by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), that specialist engineers could play a key role by turning buildings into ‘safe havens’ capable of protecting the health and welfare of occupants. “European citizens spend on average over 90% of their time indoors, which means we can protect ourselves from 90% of air pollutants for up to 90% of the time by using good quality air filters and making sure they are properly maintained. “We would like to see this reflected in the new London Plan [the Mayor of London’s planning framework currently under consultation],” added Mr Birkett, who called on the experts assembled by BESA to help inform the consultation process. The Association used the occasion to unveil plans for the industry’s first comprehensive IAQ Standard and kicked off the writing process with a workshop involving representatives from across the building services sector. Mr Birkett said this work could help to inform
future government policies, which he said needed to be integrated to reflect the fact that we are dealing with “one atmosphere” so that measures covering air, energy and transport are
all part of the same regulatory framework. “It is the myopic focus since 1990 on CO2 and fuel efficiency that has created this mess and now many roads in Central London have the highest NO2 concentrations in the world,” he added. The growth in the amount of harmful particles
A new comprehensive industry standard covering Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has started to take shape following an event organised by BESA to mark the UK’s first ever National Clean Air Day on June 15
problems. He added that there was growing evidence that ailments as diverse as eye disorders, memory loss and poor sleep patterns were linked to pollution. “However, it is very hard to pinpoint specific deaths
caused by dirty air – its impact is cumulative – so there has been a catastrophic lack of action,” said Mr Frise. “Yet this is a problem that has a very personal impact on all of us and on our children.”
MAKE BUILDINGS POLLUTION ‘SAFE HAVENS’ I
(PM 1, PM2.5, PM10) and gases such as NO2 and ozone is responsible for up to 9,400 premature deaths every year in London compared to 8,500 from smoking, according to Mr Birkett, who said there was clear scientific evidence linking pollution to increased rates of cardiovascular disease. He also pointed to the impact on the development of children’s lungs and that, once lost, lung capacity could never be recovered, condemning the current generation of children attending schools close to busy roads to long-term health problems. He urged building occupants to challenge their building managers to ensure mechanical ventilation systems were properly installed and maintained. He also cited British and European standard BS:EN 13779 (2012), which specifies the necessary filter performance for good indoor air quality. “Building owners should consider the total cost of a measure - not just the impact on energy use,” said Mr Birkett. “They need to consider the overall impact on building occupants. The cost of filtration is tiny compared to the health and productivity of people.” AECOM’s director of sustainability Ant Wilson MBE told the meeting that work on an IAQ Standard was an opportunity to create guidance that could eventually become a legal requirement. “Lots of the industry’s most established guidance, such as BREEAM, started out as advisory, but was
gradually adopted as mandatory by people like local authority planning officers,” he said. A YouGov survey carried out by BESA last year showed that 70% of office workers were concerned about the impact of poor IAQ on their health and National Clean Air Day saw the release of further analysis from organisers Global Action Plan. It revealed that the British public was now
prepared to spend the equivalent of £1bn a year on cleaning up air pollution, with two thirds of 2,000 adults surveyed saying they would agree to spend an average of £2.59 each month on clean air measures.
Eight in 10 were concerned about how air pollution will affect their health, according to GAP’s research, which also revealed that, while heart conditions cause the majority of premature deaths from outdoor pollution, 75% of adults did not realise to what extent air pollution affects the heart. “When I told a meeting of architects last year that the biggest issue facing the built environment sector was air quality, they scoffed at me,” said BESA’s head of sustainability David Frise. “Since then the weight of scientific evidence has been piling up and I don’t think they would be so dismissive now.”
www.theBESA.com
12 July 2017
www.heatingandventilating.net
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