Comparison of Health and Well-Being Aspects in Building Certification Schemes

The quality of the indoor environment is becoming increasingly important because people are spending the majority of their time indoors. This has led to an increased interest in the field of health and well-being of users of buildings and to the development of various assessment schemes dealing with this issue. In this study, LEED O+M Building Operations and Maintenance (hereinafter LEED O+M), BREEAM In-Use and DGNB Buildings In-Use were compared with a specialized BCS WELL that is focused on the health and well-being of building occupants. The aim of the comparison was to evaluate to what extent the selected building certification schemes (BCSs) cover the aspects of health and well-being in buildings. Based on the analysis, it was found that the observed BCSs mostly pay attention to indoor air quality, light and thermal comfort. In other areas, only certain topics are covered or the topics have a different focus. Another important finding of the study was that certain aspects that are important for the health and well-being of the occupants are not dependent only on the building design but also on the management of the building and the services provided within the building. This kind of information is especially valuable for building developers, managers and owners so they know how to improve health and well-being in a building. The present study provides them with a comprehensive overview of the certification schemes that are widely used in current practice.

[1]  P. Morency,et al.  Regional assessment of exposure to traffic-related air pollution: Impacts of individual mobility and transit investment scenarios , 2017 .

[2]  Salvatore Carlucci,et al.  An Analysis of the Most Adopted Rating Systems for Assessing the Environmental Impact of Buildings , 2017 .

[3]  A. Kalbusch,et al.  Factors influencing water consumption in buildings in southern Brazil , 2018 .

[4]  S. Tae,et al.  Suggestions of Policy Direction to Improve the Housing Quality in South Korea , 2016 .

[5]  Anita M. M. Liu,et al.  Effects of neighborhood building density, height, greenspace, and cleanliness on indoor environment and health of building occupants , 2018, Building and Environment.

[6]  Mateja Dovjak,et al.  User-Centred Healing-Oriented Conditions in the Design of Hospital Environments , 2018, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[7]  G. Radonjič,et al.  Current and potential ecodesign integration in small and medium enterprises: Construction and related industries , 2018 .

[8]  Alesš Krainer.  Passivhaus contra bioclimatic design , 2008 .

[9]  W. Fisk.  HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY GAINS FROM BETTER INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY , 2000 .

[10]  J. Siegel,et al.  Thermal comfort in multi-unit social housing buildings , 2018, Building and Environment.

[11]  Han-Hsi Liang,et al.  Satisfaction of occupants toward indoor environment quality of certified green office buildings in Taiwan , 2014 .

[12]  Anca D. Galasiu,et al.  Occupant preferences and satisfaction with the luminous environment and control systems in daylit offices: a literature review , 2006 .

[13]  Wenjuan Wei,et al.  Indoor air quality requirements in green building certifications , 2015 .

[14]  Stephen Siu Yu Lau,et al.  Human Factors in Green Office Building Design: The Impact of Workplace Green Features on Health Perceptions in High-Rise High-Density Asian Cities , 2016 .

[15]  L. T. Wong,et al.  Epistemic water consumption benchmarks for residential buildings , 2008 .

[16]  Jennie Moore.  Ecological Footprints and Lifestyle Archetypes: Exploring Dimensions of Consumption and the Transformation Needed to Achieve Urban Sustainability , 2015 .

[17]  Laura Bellia,et al.  Lighting in indoor environments: Visual and non-visual effects of light sources with different spect , 2011 .

[18]  Ann R. Webb,et al.  Considerations for lighting in the built environment: Non-visual effects of light , 2006 .

[19]  John Tookey,et al.  A critical comparison of green building rating systems , 2017 .

[20]  A. Josa,et al.  Environmental assessment of an integrated rooftop greenhouse for food production in cities , 2018 .

[21]  Vivian W. Y Tam,et al.  Key credit criteria among international green building rating tools , 2017 .

[22]  Anna Forsberg,et al.  Tools for environmental assessment of the built environment , 2004 .

[23]  Hyoungsub Kim,et al.  LEED, Its Efficacy and Fallacy in a Regional Context—An Urban Heat Island Case in California , 2017 .

[24]  Amanjeet Singh,et al.  Effects of green buildings on employee health and productivity. , 2010, American journal of public health.

[25]  Theunis F. P. Henning,et al.  Beyond the Certification Badge—How Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Tools Impact on Individual, Organizational, and Industry Practice , 2018 .

[26]  Rakhyun Kim,et al.  Developing a Green Building Index (GBI) Certification System to Effectively Reduce Carbon Emissions in South Korea’s Building Industry , 2018, Sustainability.

[27]  Joseph G. Allen,et al.  Green Buildings and Health , 2015, Current Environmental Health Reports.

[28]  Bernardo De Gennaro,et al.  Social innovation and sustainable rural development: the case of a Brazilian agroecology network. , 2016 .

[29]  B. Cao,et al.  Indoor environment and sleep quality: A research based on online survey and field study , 2018, Building and Environment.

[30]  Finbarr Brereton,et al.  The economic contribution of public bike-share to the sustainability and efficient functioning of cities , 2017 .