Air filtration for all!

Local and central government officials have missed (or ignored) the link between outside air pollution and building related health problems for years.

Within the building engineering community we have been pointing out for some time that polluted air does not simply mysteriously disappear when it reaches a building. On the contrary, it has a catastrophic impact on indoor air quality (IAQ).

Yet, while there have been plenty of high profile efforts to measure outside air pollutants and lots of political grandstanding on the issue – there has been almost total silence on what all this means for the indoor environment. This is despite the fact that we spend most of our lives indoors.

However, the release of the Environmental Audit Committee’s latest report just before Christmas could mark a significant change of direction.

This group of influential government advisers is now calling for the installation of air filtration in all existing school buildings close to pollution hot spots. Their report clearly explains the impact of diesel vehicle emissions; nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and particulate pollution on building occupants.

They said air pollution was now a ‘public health crisis’ causing nearly as many deaths as smoking in the UK every year – about 29,000. They want changes made to the National Planning Policy Framework and new guidance to ensure local authorities prioritise IAQ before granting planning permission for new schools, hospitals and clinics.

Particulates
NOx is known to cause inflammation of the airways, reduce lung function and exacerbate asthma while particulates are linked to heart and lung diseases as well as certain cancers. Traffic is responsible for 42% of carbon monoxide, 46% of nitrogen oxides and 26% of particulate matter pollution. The Committee also pointed out that the problem had become much worse because of the promotion of diesel vehicles in a bid to cut CO₂ emissions.

Committee chair Joan Walley said the main priority was to ‘stop a new generation of children being exposed’ to these risks by retrofitting air filtration in more than 1,000 schools close to major roads. She added that it made ‘sound economic sense’ to filter the air coming into buildings in polluted areas – particularly urban centres.

B&ES speakers recently addressed the Healthcare Estates conference in Manchester where it was agreed that, despite the desperate need for cost savings across the NHS, building systems are rarely inspected, serviced or updated. A few weeks later Channel 4 News revealed the growing scandal about unserviced fire dampers in the ductwork at the PFI flagship Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Refreshing
The NHS is already at the forefront of the General Election campaign – and as usual the arguments are all about funding. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the debate could be a bit broader and bit more intelligent.

There is, therefore, a great opportunity here to ram home the message that, while ventilation systems may be ‘out of sight out of mind’ and the air we breathe is invisible, that does not make the link between airborne pollutants and increasing rates of respiratory disease less obvious.

Current NHS technical design guidance is exclusively focused on managing the risk posed by the transmission of infections inside a building – again paying no heed to the dangers lurking outside. However, the building engineering services industry has a wide range of solutions to offer  including filtration, but also other (mainly low cost) improvements, such as upgrading fans and simple maintenance. These could not only reduce health risks to building occupants, but also do it in a way that improves the overall efficiency of the ventilation and so significantly cut running costs.

This same argument applies to a wide range of buildings under attack from outside air pollutants with vulnerable occupants at risk – schools being the most obvious example.

Save lives and save money – now surely that’s got to be a vote winner?