1. What are healthy buildings?
Healthy buildings are designed to prioritise the well-being, safety, and overall experience of occupants, promoting their well-being and productivity. A healthy building ensures the building is secure for occupants and their personal assets. This includes controlling access, monitoring safety with CCTV, and installing fire protection systems. They also provide an inspiring environment that attracts and retains occupants. This involves creating spaces that people want to use, offering interaction with the environment, balancing natural and artificial lighting, reducing excessive noise, and enabling services and communications for occupants. Lastly, a healthy indoor space is provided by focusing on the air quality and overall environment to positively impact the well-being of occupants. This includes avoiding harmful elements, detecting and mitigating chemicals, odours, contaminants, and toxins, maintaining high-quality ventilation, preventing dampness and mould, and monitoring water systems.
2. Why healthy buildings are so important?
Healthy buildings are important because they prioritise the well-being, safety, and comfort of occupants. By incorporating features such as safety measures, inspiring environments, and a healthy indoor environment, they create a people-centric space that enhances occupant experience and productivity. Safety and security measures provide a sense of safety and protect occupants and their personal assets. Comfort and experience features create a space that people want to use, with balanced lighting, reduced noise, and services and communications for occupants. A healthy indoor environment ensures that the building does not harm occupants, detects and mitigates harmful elements, maintains good ventilation, prevents dampness and mould, and monitors water systems. Ultimately, healthy buildings promote the overall well-being and productivity of occupants.