ASHRAE Journal - November 2020 - 8

INDUSTRY NEWS

Pandemic Increases Focus on IAQ
CONTRIBUTED BY BSRIA WORLDWIDE MARKET INTELLIGENCE

BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, U.K.-Due to the COVID-19 pan-

demic, there is more pressure on employers to
provide good indoor air quality (IAQ) in workplaces for staff to return to work.
In recent years, IAQ has gained attention
from HVAC specifiers in the commercial space.
Designers, especially in Europe and the U.S., have
strived to specify fully featured ventilation solutions to keep pace with regulatory compliance and
the increasing sophistication of end-user requirements. To enhance occupant comfort levels and
ensure their health and safety, ventilation systems have become more customized. There is no
one-size-fits-all solution for IAQ, which remains
a vague concept until it is applied to the relevant
building site and vertical market.
The recent health crisis has brought the IAQ debate
from the closed HVAC industry circles to the attention of
the mainstream media. The claim that a badly designed
ventilation system in a public space could facilitate the
viral contagion among the occupants has caused anxiety
among the general public and has sparked a renewed
interest in IAQ facility upgrades from building owners and operators. The urgency of enhancing the IAQ
solutions prompted by the health risk associated with
COVID-19 spread represents a challenge for regulators
and specifiers, a cost for building owners and an opportunity of product development for the HVAC manufacturers. Although the pandemic has not receded, businesses are planning how staff can safely return to the
workplace and are looking for ways to do so efficiently
and cost-effectively.
Building occupancy levels vary across economies and
cities. Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate
services firm, reported the "office real estate market
will get back to pre-COVID level in 2025." The study also
reports "work from home will double, and hybrid working will increase. The share of people working permanently from home in the U.S. and Europe will increase
from roughly 5% to 6% pre-COVID-19 to between 10%
and 11% post-COVID-19, while the share of hybrid working, also referred to as agile working, will increase from
between 32% to 36% to just under half of all workers."

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ASHRAE JOURNAL

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N OVEM BER 2020

FIGURE 1. IMPACT OF IAQ ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Building services engineers will face a new challenge: how to bring existing buildings with reduced
occupancy levels to acceptable standards for the safe
return of employees. Some strategies being considered
are redesigning layouts, zonal HVAC controls, dilution ventilation, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) with
dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS ) with 100% fresh
air, cleaning air ducts, filtration, ultraviolet germicidal
irradiation (UVGI), smart sensors and smart controls,
etc. Use of some of these strategies will depend on cost,
time and knowledge from the building owners, service
and maintenance contractors and building services
engineers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed attention
and awareness of the importance of hazard-free
indoor air in commercial spaces. In the future, regulatory requirements and building end user requests
will make IAQ an essential aspect of specification.
Developers may wish to enhance their building's environmental wellness, as this would contribute to an
increased value of their assets.
The consequences of the HVAC industry's transformation remain hazy. Ventilation and air-conditioning companies are developing new solutions and working with
control suppliers, specifiers and regulators to resolve
the apparent incongruity between efficiency and IAQ.
The process is in its infancy and will continue when the
COVID-19 emergency is tamed.
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ASHRAE Journal - November 2020

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