5 Whitepaper: Enhanced Indoor Air Quality for Office Buildings Effect of Indoor Air Quality in Office buildings Most studies on IAQ have primarily been confined to homes and schools, while that of modern office buildings has been less subject to studies. Although this seems to be increasing in the last years and expects to continue to increase further in the coming years. Understanding and analysing IAQ in offices is important as it may affect the cognitive performance and productivity of employees, alongside their general health. Needless to say, modern office buildings are usually highly controlled environments with sophisticated ventilation and air conditioning systems. The last few decades have witnessed an increase in the air tightness of modern office buildings. Although air tightness is a good step towards ensuring energy efficiency, the downside is that it makes it more difficult for polluted air to escape, thus negatively impacting the IAQ in workspaces. Building-related illness syndromes are generally referred to as Sick Building Syndrome3. Across European office buildings various indoor pollutant concentrations are higher than the WHO air quality guideline values5. 3 SBS is defined as ‘a collection of nonspecific symptoms including eye, nose and throat irritation, mental fatigue, headaches, nausea, dizziness and skin irritations, which seem to be linked with occupancy of certain workplaces’ 4 Source: Ghaffarianhoseini A. et al. (2018), ‘Sick building syndrome: are we doing enough?’, in: Architectural Science Review. 5 Source: Mandin C. et al. (2016), ‘Assessment of indoor air quality in office buildings across Europe – The OFFICAIR study’, in: Science of the Total Environment. Building-related illness syndromes are generally referred to as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), introduced by WHO in 19833. Several health-related symptoms can be associated with SBS, varying from general symptoms such as allergies, dizziness, or the inability to concentrate, to mucous symptoms such as irritation in the eyes and throat, and dermal symptoms such as itchiness in the skin, face, or hands4 (Ghaffarianhoseini et al., 2018). The negative effects of sick buildings can also translate to costs incurred in the form of absence from work, lower productivity, remedial expenses, or an increase in the building’s energy consumption4 (Ghaffarianhoseini et al., 2018). Recent research shows that various indoor pollutant concentrations in office buildings across Europe are higher than the WHO air quality guideline values, while also noting seasonal variations in IAQ levels in modern office buildings5 (Mandin et al., 2016). The indoor pollutants that were studied also included airborne Particulate Matter particles, and that calls for major concern.
