Heating and Ventilation News
Opening windows should not be considered an adequate means to manage air quality in schools, with a trade body demanding a national investment focus on mechanical ventilation
‘Natural ventilation’ should be considered inadequate as a means to manage indoor air quality in schools and ensure a healthy and productive environment for pupils, industry experts argue.
Trade body BESA said there is growing industry consensus that better ventilation strategies would be needed to tackle current concerns about potential airborne infection as a result of Covid-19, as well as address long-term issues around pupil wellbeing beyond the pandemic. It now hoped that political action might be taken to address these concerns as part of plans to transform school estates in England.
Covid link to poor air supply a major concern for AC planning
Air movement expert Professor Catherine Noakes urges caution around the use of AC systems in poorly-ventilated enclosed spaces in order to limit Covid risks
Use of AC systems during the current pandemic must be considered as part of a holistic indoor air quality strategy that factors in both air movement and end user behaviour, a government advisor has argued.
Professor Cath Noakes from the University of Leeds’ School of Civil Engineering, who sits on the government’s SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) committee, said that emerging evidence about the potential for airborne transmission of Covid-19 meant that careful planning of all air movement systems being used in enclosed spaces was required.
Covid-19 exposing shortcomings of UK ventilation standards
Academic expert calls for collaborative approach by researchers, HVAC specialists and policy makers to introduce clear methods to quantify the effectiveness of indoor ventilation
A lack of clear standards to measure building ventilation performance is complicating efforts to better limit the risk of airborne transmission of Covid-19.
The ventilation of enclosed spaces is increasingly shown by studies to be an important tool to limit covid-19 transmission risks. However, building specialists are having to consider complex range of air quality factors – some unique to a specific environment - in order to improve the overall effectiveness, safety and sustainability of ventilation systems. Professor Cath Noakes from the University of Leeds’ School of Civil Engineering said that ensuring a more standardised approach was now in place to enforce and measure ventilation performance against a range of criteria was a complex