A new standard, the WELL Building StandardR, has been developed in the US to embed wellbeing priorities in the built environment, evaluating such factors as air and water quality, and noise, light and temperature levels.
Saint-Gobain has created the Multi-Comfort standard – a way of designing sustainable, healthy and comfortable buildings that also achieve the Passivhaus standard in energy efficiency. The first UK project built to the standard, a new sports and drama hall for King’s Hawford Junior School in Worcester, designed by Associated Architects, is close to completion. As well as promoting high levels of energy efficiency and thermal comfort in the school, the standard focuses on audio, indoor air and visual comfort to create a quality learning environment for teachers and students.
Saint-Gobain technical director Mark Allen and residential sector director Stacey Temprell will be outlining the Multi-Comfort concept and the story of the debut UK project as part of the Building Health & Wellbeing seminar programme on 7 June 2016 at Vision London. This opening day of the two-day building design and innovation event at Olympia London will also feature an in-depth look at indoor air quality, as well as a range of approaches including RENSON UK’s Healthy Residential ConceptR, which notably combines ventilation and sun protection.
The focus on wellbeing in buildings is being prompted by many factors. The quest to create more efficient, high quality buildings in a changing climate is posing challenges, ranging from summer overheating in heavily glazed urban apartment blocks to questions about air quality in some tightly-sealed new energy efficient homes. Sick Building Syndrome continues to plague office workers, with a 2015 survey by YouGov for developer Lendlease finding that more than a third of respondents felt unhealthy at work.
At the same time, the green buildings in our towns and cities – there are more than 500,000 BREEAM certified buildings alone – are demonstrating the benefits of a good quality working environment. There is now a growing body of evidence showing that green buildings are both good for health and can help raise staff productivity levels.
Vision London takes place from 7-8 June 2016 at Olympia London. Over the course of two days, the event showcases today’s most exciting materials, technologies, products, projects and thinking. Through a series of seminars and case studies delivered by over 160 leading international speakers, alongside a carefully curated exhibition of cutting edge products and solutions, Vision is the meeting place for professionals connected to the built environment and a unique opportunity for suppliers to showcase their products.
Its comprehensive educational programme features seminar streams covering Innovations in Architecture & Design, Future Materials, Technology Talks, Building Health and Wellness, Smart Buildings, Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Offsite Construction.
Access to the exhibition and all seminars is free of charge when you register in advance.
