BRE
HAS UNVEILED PLANS TO UNDERTAKE A PILOT PROJECT TO MEASURE THE
REAL-WORLD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF BUILDING OCCUPANTS BY CREATING
THE HEALTHY RESEARCH BUILDING - THE UK’S FIRST OPERATIONAL
WORKPLACE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT.
The
project will see BRE refurbish one of its existing office buildings
at its head office in Watford and create a fully operational office
that will enable occupants to be monitored whilst they go about their
day-to-day work.
The
aim of the project is to enable BRE to research the impact of indoor
environments on human health and well-being whilst generating
evidence-based information that can be used in practical ways to
create healthier indoor spaces.
It
follows the announcement that the International WELL Building
Institute (IWBI) and BRE are pursuing alignments
between the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and BREEAM that will make
it easier for projects pursuing both standards.
The
building, currently home to 60 members of staff, will be reconfigured
into BRE’s Healthy Research Building and will form part of the
company’s Innovation Park. The refurbishment will pursue BREEAM and
WELL certifications and once work has been completed staff will be
allowed to freely use the office whilst being monitored using
advanced sensor technology and remote monitoring. Data relating to
the health and well-being of the staff will then be analysed by BRE
with the view of providing the industry with a greater understanding
of how different products, materials and internal configurations
affect occupants.
“It
has been claimed that we spend over 90% of our time indoors and in an
office environment, 90% of the cost is the people inside,”
commented Martin Townsend, Director of Sustainability at BRE Global.
“It is therefore vital that we better understand the effects that
indoor environments are having on their occupants. By refurbishing
one of our offices to achieve BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard
and integrating state- of-the-art monitoring technology we will be
creating the UK’s first living laboratory.”
In
addition to creating the Healthy Research Building, BRE are calling
upon the industry to help participate in the project through the
undertaking of specific product testing to ascertain the impacts on
occupant health and well-being.
“The
health and well-being agenda is such an important part of our
sustainable built environment and something that needs to be industry
inclusive,” continued Martin. “As such, we don’t just want to
research our own staff to drive this agenda, we want to work with the
industry to create an inclusive agenda on research.
“To
ensure we actively undertake the research that the industry needs
we’re calling on the industry to work with us on an industry
supported health and well-being research programme.”
The
announcement comes at a time when the industry is increasingly
looking at the importance of occupant well-being and the realisation
that there is a huge
gap in understanding how the built environment impacts biological
sustainability as opposed to just environmental.
The alignment between
BREEAM and WELL will now provide a more cohesive approach to
delivering projects that place sustainability and occupant health and
well-being at the top of the agenda, and the Healthy Research
Building will ensure that real-world data can be ascertained to help
make informed decisions.
