Indoor Environments: Design, Productivity and Health [Bell, QUT] 2001-005-B

A buildings occupants productivity and health is influenced by conditions of the indoor environment, particularly the indoor air quality, thermal comfort and lighting. In the USA and Europe it has been estimated that poor indoor air quality affects 30%-40% of office occupants and can cost up to 2% of GDP. While there are specifications for thermal comfort, lighting and some indoor air quality factors in Australia there is a general lack of information about whether these specifications are appropriate to deliver optimum outcomes in terms of health and productivity and whether these outcomes are achieved. This project will determine the availability of Australian and international data for thermal comfort, lighting and indoor air quality; the populations and buildings affected; and procedures by which this information can be used to estimate real costs to productivity and the health of Australian office workers. This project is a scoping study which will form the basis for a full study in which procedures for determining the impact of these factors will be established, followed by development of methods for estimating the economic impact of poor quality indoor environments. Design knowledge will be ultimately integrated into building design tools. Part of the scoping study will involve developing a detailed research brief for engineering solutions to Legionella control in cooling towers.