Standards Development

Scope

This British Standard gives recommendations for the measuring, monitoring and reporting of the well being and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) performance of an occupied residential building and any associated building services.

 
This British Standard provides an evaluation and rating system, the purpose of which is to enhance IEQ, with the aim of creating residential buildings which support and improve the well-being of building occupants; including, but not limited to, occupants, visitors and service providers.

The IEQ performance score generated as an outcome of this evaluation provides owners and occupiers with a benchmark score that can be used to identify areas of below par performance and enable improvements to be made accordingly.

 
It is applicable to residential buildings, including existing building stock. It can be used, along with other standards and design guidance, in existing buildings, renovations and new build developments for target setting, evaluation and assessment of health and well-being in residential buildings. It covers a good practice approach to the evaluation and assessment of the following factors:

 
a) air quality;

b) light quality;

c) thermal comfort; and

d) acoustic and soundscape quality. 

NOTE The indoor environmental characteristics in terms of their definition, evaluation and interpretation are detailed in BS EN 16798 1, PD CEN/TR 16798 2 and BS EN ISO 7730.

It does not cover:

1) temporary structures;
2) construction methods;
3) health and well-being not related to the building or building services;
4 medical assessment or evaluation;
5) cultural norms and acceptable behaviours;
6) life safety systems;
7) biophilia;
8) water quality; or
9) electro-magnetic fields.

This British Standard is for use by owners, occupiers, and managers of residential buildings. It is for use by design, construction, surveying and property management professionals, and also by owners, occupiers, tenants, tenants’ representatives, occupational health and safety and well being professionals.

Purpose

Regulatory and commercial pressures to minimize energy costs have led to growing concern over the impact and cost of ill-health and pressures on public services arising from inadequate ventilation and lighting which can compromise the mental and physical health and well-being of occupants. This standard seeks to address the health and well-being performance of residential buildings by offering recommendations for the measuring, monitoring and reporting of the health and well-being factors influenced by the building and the building services. It includes a multi-layered evaluation system which generates an IEQ performance level and helps users to identify areas for improvement. It enables the provision of definitive data that can quantify the effects of IEQ on the health and well-being of occupants.

 
In addition, advances in monitoring technology have enabled the production of low-cost monitors that facilitate high-quality monitoring of IEQ in real time.

It is expected that this standard will support compliance with the Public Health England Air Quality Guidelines for selected Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the UK.