Building Services Industry Has Two Years to Fix Indoor Air Quality

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18 November 2024

A policy paper launched at the Building Engineering Services Association’s World Ventilation Day event suggests there is a “two-year window of opportunity” to prioritise air quality when assessing building performance.

Speaking at the event, Yselkla Farmer, Chief Executive of the energy and infrastructure trade association BEAMA, described indoor air quality and ventilation as a “poor relation to energy efficiency” when it came to assessing building performance. BEAMA’s new policy paper urges governments to broaden the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) remit to recognise and evaluate the indoor air quality of homes.

She said: “The push for better energy performance in buildings [has led to] a clear disconnect with the need to ensure building occupants are healthy. This has played a significant role in creating what is now a national health crisis.”

65,000 UK homes suffered from serious mould and damp leading to over 10,000 deaths each year linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease and mental health.

Why is IAQ a “Voluntary Compliance Area?”

“IAQ should have the same focus as fire and electrical safety in the building regulations.  Why is this issue, which actually causes more deaths, still a ‘voluntary’ compliance area? [Warm Homes and EPCs] are a legislative framework we can work with – so let’s use this window of opportunity.”

The meeting was also addressed by Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah CBE, air quality and child health campaigner, who recently received an apology from the government for the death of her daughter Ella which was linked to air pollution. Ella had been exposed to “excessive” levels of air pollution and that levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) near her home exceeded WHO guidelines."

Rosamund said: “The government is concerned about the economy and money, so we need to focus on the cost of not cleaning up the air and the impact that will have on the NHS as more people get sick and die. Without cleaning up the air this miracle they think will happen with the NHS will not be possible.

“We have heard that the government does not think the public is concerned about air quality, even though every single one of us breathes air, every single minute of every day.” 

BESA Indoor Air Quality Group chair Adam Taylor said the government should also support a public awareness campaign to raise the profile of IAQ in homes, schools and workplaces: “We need to communicate some simple but powerful messages to the public about the impact of poor IAQ on health and its links to premature deaths.”

Picture: a photograph of Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah CBE. Image Credit: BESA

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 18 November 2024

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