We spend up to 90% of our day inside, breathing in air that can become polluted by gases and particulates harmful to our health⚠️. As designers and specifiers, we can significantly reduce the potential for air to become contaminated in our buildings, and with the increasing awareness of health & wellbeing ❤️, COADY are looking at how we can continue to improve indoor environments – in schools 🏫, hospitals 🏥, workspaces 🏢, as well as in our own homes 🏠.

IAQ directly affects not only our health 💊, but our comfort and even our ability to carry out tasks well.  Some, like Radon & Carbon Dioxide, are naturally occurring.  Others, such as VOCs and Formaldehyde are present in building materials, and yet others are emitted from furniture, fittings, combustion processes 🔥 and products in daily use.

Modern airtightness can exacerbate these issues, so how do we reduce pollutants while maintaining comfortable temperatures 🌡️ and controlling humidity💧?

How we Address IAQ 🌿:
✅ Background & Purge Ventilation – COADY have developed templates to accurately calculate against standards.
✅ Set Targets that are in excess of current Building Regulations and WHO recommendations.

• Radon: <50 Bq/m3 ☢️
• CO2: <900 ppm 🌬️
• VOCs: <0.3 mg/m3 🧪
• Formaldehyde: <0.1 mg/m3 🏗️

✅ Specify products, systems, and build quality that ensure targets 🏅 can be met.
✅ Expand Quality Assurance within our suite of specification documents to include for robust testing regimes.
✅ Promote POE of our projects to input into National Databases 📊 and also inform future targets.
✅ Design in ventilation system that deal effectively with humidity control as well as limiting heat loss – COADY promote

✅ the use of HVAC and as MVHR especially where high levels of airtightness is a factor.

Work to Improve baseline Knowledge 🎯:

We believe that impactful change is achieved through collaboration and sharing of information. Collaboration with research institutions will continue to be a part of our move forward to gather, interrogate, understand and share knowledge. Recently we have been undertaking VOC real time and passive testing in collaboration with academic institutions. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is a critical factor in determining how effective our current solutions are – Additionally, shared🤝 information and data📘 across similar typologies over different occupancies can help the industry better understand how effective measures are and how behaviours influence results. 

Advocates for Improved Targets 🏆

The RIAI Climate Challenge 2030 sets IAQ targets, for all buildings. COADY Architect’s commitment is to delivering specific educational/healthcare/residential projects that challenge these targets and contribute to the overall knowledge base within the industry.

#COADYCharter #SustainableDesign #Indoor Air Quality #EnergyEfficiency #CO2 #Radon #Formaldehyde #VOCs