BESA hails new IAQ standard

UK: The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has welcomed the creation of the first British Standard for health and well-being in buildings.

BS 40102-1:2023 gives recommendations for measuring, monitoring, and reporting indoor environmental quality in all types of non-domestic buildings. It includes an evaluation and rating system for air quality, lighting, thermal comfort, and acoustics.

In a statement, BESA said: “The evaluation will give building managers a benchmark score to help them identify areas of below par performance so they can plan improvements and include IEQ measures in any retrofit and renovation work to improve the health and well-being of occupants.”

Swansea-based environmental and building services firm EFT Consult are said to have played a key role in the creation of the standard as it laid the groundwork through its development of a publicly available specification (PAS 3003) prompted by the 2015 Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act.

According to BESA, EFT, which is a member of BESA’s Indoor Air Quality group, was developing the PAS with the British Standards Institute when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, highlighting the role played by poor quality indoor environments in the spread of viruses and other airborne contaminants. As a result, BSi decided to fast track and elevate the PAS to a full British Standard.

To meet the new standard organisations will need to tackle conditions that have a direct impact on human health including humidity and excessive levels of CO2, CO, NO2, VOC, airborne particulates and mould.

EFT chair Dave Kieft hailed the new standard as “a major milestone” in the assessment and improvement of indoor environmental quality in the UK. 

“We are proud to have played a key role in the development and delivery of this new standard, and we are confident that it will make a significant contribution to the health, well-being and productivity of building occupants around the world,” he said.

Several other members of the BESA IAQ Group were invited to provide input into the standard and stressed the importance of following the latest WHO guidance on air quality.