Technical Seminar: Health and Wellbeing in Buildings

Thanks to all who attended our technical seminar on 22nd February 2019 on \’Health and Wellbeing in Buildings\’ a topic which is of increasing importance for building designers, facility managers, and of course occupants. For ASHRAE, it has just been announced at the recent 2019 Annual Meeting, that \’Indoor Environmental Quality\’ (IEQ) is one of the 4 core pillars of the 2019-2024 ASHRAE Strategic Plan.

\”The indoor environment is increasingly recognized as the leading priority for built environment, with implications extending beyond simple acceptability of indoor conditions to its influence on productivity, learning and health. The indoor environment of the future identifies and optimizes interactions between air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics, based on a firm understanding of implications for occupants’ health and wellness. ASHRAE convenes and collaborates with experts and stakeholders across the industry to engage in discussion and exploration of this topic to accelerate collective knowledge in the field. This initiative aims to elevate ASHRAE’s role in facilitating this discussion, generating thought leadership and promoting understanding of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) among practitioners\”

ASHRAE, 2019, \” 2019-2024 ASHRAE Strategic Plan At-A-Glance\”
https://www.ashrae.org/File%20Library/About/Strategic%20Plan/2019-Strategic-Plan-At-A-Glance_Final_5_30_19_web-1-.pdf

Daniel Coakley (Secretary, ASHRAE Ireland) opened the seminar and explained current ASHRAE Ireland Chapter activities for Spring/Summer 2019. The main technical seminar focused on three main areas:

1. IAQ / Wellness in International Standards: Prof. Bjarne Olesen (ICIEE, TU Denmark, Past ASHRAE President 2017-18) provided a comprehensive overview of how IEQ is addressed in current international standards and guidelines, such as ISO 7730 and ASHRAE Standard 55 and 62.1 etc. Furthermore, Prof. Olesen described how building certifications such as WELL ® defined adequate indoor environmental comfort and ventilation levels, and how these correspond to global standards;
2. HVRF Technology: Andrew Keegan (Mitsubishi Electric Ireland) presented on the HVAC technology aspect in the provision of comfortable working environments in buildings, focusing on the latest hybrid VRF systems, and EN378 refrigerant regulations;
3. Monitoring and Control: Tony O\’Keefe (RemoteHVAC) spoke about the importance of monitored performance data for continuous commissioning and automated fault detection and diagnosis (AFDD). Tony also introduced the new cloud-based RemoteHVAC monitoring system employed at \’the Well\’.
4. The Well building: Features, Technology and Learnings: James Byrne (Sirus Building Energy Solutions) presented a detailed overview of the newly refurbished office building (the Well) at CityWest. James talked extensively on the motivation for considering IEQ in the building design, the process, the technologies employed, the energy / IEQ impact, and finally the lessons learned from the journey.

The event also included a short tour of the ‘The Well’ at Citywest, showcasing some of the social & technical features used to promote occupant health and wellbeing, including the (1) Plant Room and HVRF System; (2) Building Management System (BMS) Intelligent occupant-centric controls.

Please see below presentations from each of our presenters from the event:

• Introduction to ASHRAE Ireland Seminar – D. Coakley (MERCE-UK / ASHRAE Ireland)
• Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Standards and Wellness – Prof. B. Olesen (ICIEE, Technical University of Denmark)
• Continuous Monitoring for High-Performance Buildings – T. O\’Keefe (RemoteHVAC)
• The Well building: Features, Technology and Learnings – J. Byrne (Sirus)

Thanks again to all our attendees, our technical speakers, and to Sirus for kindly hosting us in CityWest.