Tenant complaints consist in 90% of cases of problems with the indoor climate. As mentioned in a previous article, several parameters should be measured in offices. If you have not read that article, it is recommended to read it first.
Traditionally, we have only had temperature sensors in offices and temperature plus CO2 in meeting and multi-purpose rooms — and that is only where there is a BMS, which is the case in only 20% of our building stock.
As you may well know, we often experience indoor climate problems. You report it and perhaps get told that everything is fine — and that’s that! But is it really? Do those responsible have the right equipment to verify that you as a user, or as the person responsible for the company, have the best conditions in place to be productive and stay healthy? Is it creating so much disruption that people become ill or unproductive? Well, unfortunately this is the case if your indoor environment is poor.
Director of BI in Stavanger, Dr. scient Ragnhild Wiik, conducted an extensive research project in which she found that a good indoor environment can increase productivity by a minimum of 3 percent. This has a significant impact on the bottom line.
How should you deal with this? Take responsibility yourself and check — it is incredibly simple and does not have to involve large costs.
In this example I present Norwegian Airthings with Healthy Building Solutions, which I have worked closely with over the past year — but there are other types of systems on the market.
The installation is designed so that everyone can do it. There is a website you get access to, where you enter the serial number and a unique code for each sensor, and then specify which location the sensor is monitoring. Here you can easily add all the sensors at once or do it gradually.
Once this is done you are online and the sensors need to be placed around the premises.
Placing the equipment is perhaps the main reason sensors have been considered the preserve of "professionals", but there are some simple tips that mean you can do this yourself. We naturally want the placement to be correct so that we get good and accurate data.
With a few simple steps you can now create your own dashboard — and perhaps this becomes the new information screen that shows that you as a manager or health and safety officer take indoor climate seriously? Perhaps this can create the "Hawthorne effect" — the fact that employees see that you are checking whether they are doing well, which in itself has a positive effect, even if the problem has not necessarily been solved there and then.
The data you get from the sensors is the key to further progress. What is great about the Airthings system is that with one click you can get ready-made reports showing what the problem is, and you can easily send these on to the building owner or FM operator so that you can work together to solve the challenge. You can also give access to anyone who wants insight. There is also an open API that makes it easy to extract data — perhaps key indoor climate figures should feature in a weekly or monthly report? The only limit here is your imagination.
The Proptech wave has meant that technology is available to everyone at a reasonable price. According to the Airthings website, a pilot kit today costs approximately NOK 25,000 for 10 sensors with a receiver. These are sensors with 7 parameters: Temperature, Humidity, CO2, VOC, Radon, Pressure and Light.
Perhaps key indoor climate figures should feature in a weekly or monthly report?
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