We are raising the bar for a healthy indoor climate

We stay indoors up to 90% of the time, and this is where we actually find the vast majority of hazardous particulate pollution. At the same time, there is strong evidence that a good indoor climate in workplaces and educational institutions results in less absence, increased performance and better well-being. Therefore, there is good reason to launch initiatives that put a healthier indoor climate on the agenda.

Right now, we are updating the DGNB manuals for residential units, offices and educational buildings. The project is supported by Realdania and is created in collaboration with the Green Building Council Denmark, Arkitema Architects, Aalborg University and an advisory board with several of Denmark’s leading researchers in this field.

DGNB is already very successful as a certification scheme, since many developers are seeing the benefit of making their sustainability efforts visible through a credible system with concrete guidelines. The ambition of the new project is that the scheme should be just as good at documenting the health qualities of the buildings where we work, learn and live.

Healthy Schools
The update of DGNB is far from the only example of the importance being attached to healthy buildings at Artelia. In addition, we are involved in three Realdania projects, of which “Healthy Schools – healthy learning” is the latest in the series of projects.

Realdania has conducted a survey showing that a positive effect can be identified in municipalities that have a strategy for indoor climate optimisation at their schools.
As part of a larger campaign, Realdania has therefore selected 12 municipalities to work with strategic indoor climate plans. The aim is to prioritise health, both at a political level and within the individual schools. This applies, among other things, to better interaction with the municipal refurbishment strategy. One example is not just considering energy savings when replacing windows, but also taking the indoor climate into account.

Artelia is participating in one of the projects, that is a collaboration with CLEAN, the University of Southern Denmark and the three municipalities of Middelfart, Odense and Kolding. The first step is to survey the most frequent indoor climate problems by carrying out measurements at three schools in each of the three municipalities. Very different schools have been chosen for this purpose, since the problems can vary greatly. Bearing in mind that you should consider the individual schools and classrooms as a whole, Steffen E. Maagard, Corporate Technical Director, Energy Design & Indoor Climate at Artelia points out:

Steffen adds that strategic indoor climate plans should ultimately lead to ideas for overall initiatives that take into account the fact that different problems require different solutions.

Healthy Homes
A good portion of our knowledge of healthy buildings has been acquired by participating in the innovation project Healthy Homes, where the latest research is being tested in practice. The project consists of three houses in Holstebro, which have been inhabited by three test families since the end of 2018.

The NOW-Tech house has been built based on current standards, and functions as a reference building. The YES-Tech house represents the technological path to good indoor climate, while the NO-Tech house uses passive solutions that focus on interior design and materials. Even though the houses have been finished for quite some time, the project has entered a measurement and evaluation phase which is at least as interesting, says Steffen:

“Some of the things we are looking at right now are the combination effects between the materials that we have in our homes. Products such as paint, flooring and plasterboard are being tested for hazardous substances. Even though there are no significant problems when they are examined separately, we have observed that several products interact with each other, which changes their chemistry and could be extremely hazardous in the worst case scenario. It is extremely difficult to design accordingly, and there are no requirements in this area either. We have only scratched the surface, but if we set our health ambitions high, we will have to look into the combination effects in the future.”

Healthy Homes Renovation
The many new findings and methods from Healthy Homes are now being applied to and tested on existing buildings. In the “Healthy Homes Renovation” project, Artelia will be helping Realdania to investigate the effects of indoor climate improvements in three older houses that are typical for the period in Randers: a bungalow from 1937, a brick house from 1953 and a detached house from 1962. They were all built at a time without any significant insulation and indoor climate requirements, and they also represent three building types, each of which has its own shortcomings.

The houses will be inhabited by three test families for an entire season, during which the current indoor climate condition will be examined. This will include mould spores, temperature conditions, air exchange rate, particulate pollution and much more. Based on the results, an indoor climate renovation will be carried out, whereupon the houses’ indoor climate will be measured once again during another entire season. Thus we will be able to see if the desired effects are obtained and what solutions are the most effective at improving the indoor climate.

“As part of the project, the families will receive DKK 500,000 for improvements, and here we will help by giving them ideas as to how they can obtain a better indoor climate. The good thing about having three building types is that the solutions will also be scalable and can be used elsewhere. There is no doubt that the existing buildings are a huge focus area,” concludes Steffen.