Indoor air quality
Titon’s FireSafe® Air Brick has recently been installed at the new Hayes Village development in West London.
Hayes Village, situated at Nestles Avenue, Hayes in Middlesex, is a brand new development from Barratt London offering 1,473 new homes. Built on the former Nestle Factory, the area is undergoing signification regeneration.
With the topic of air quality gaining in importance for end users and landlords, SIEGENIA’s compact single room heat recovery ventilation unit can now provide an even healthier indoor environment as it is available with CO2 regulation on request.
Ventilation remains an ongoing challenge not just for private developers and self-builders, but also for those of us undertaking any refurbishment works on properties. With increasing airtightness standards in the UK for new build homes and the focus on procuring the most energy efficient products, we end up creating nothing more than highly efficient sealed boxes. This may sound ideal (and from an energy conservation point of view it is) but without a properly considered holistic ventilation strategy, poor indoor air quality and issues of condensation and mould will ensue and become a recurrent problem for housing managers and landlords.
Leading British ventilation manufacturer Vent-Axia is sharing tips on how to love your lungs on Clean Air Day on Thursday 16 June 2022. Clean Air Day is led by environmental charity Global Action Plan and aims to improve public understanding of air pollution, build awareness of how air pollution affects our health and explain the easy actions we can all take to tackle air pollution, helping protect the environment and our health.
The theme for Clean Air Day this year is that ‘air pollution dirties every organ in your body’. Vent-Axia is therefore reflecting this by sharing tips on how vital it is to love your lungs to stay healthy and aims to raise the issue of how indoor air pollution, as well as outdoor air pollution, can affect our health. Indoor air pollution can affect lung health and is linked to increased risk of pneumonia, COPD and lung cancer. If an asthma sufferer has an allergic reaction to a pollutant in the air, this can also make asthma symptoms worse.
Leading ventilation manufacturer Vent-Axia is hosting a webinar aimed at the social housing sector on the recently launched Building Regulations. ‘Domestic Retrofit Legislation and Guidance for Ventilation’, will update delegates on the recent changes to the legislation and explain how these changes will affect ventilation in domestic retrofit, especially when adding energy efficiency measures to existing housing stock.
The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has completed its trilogy of free guides designed to help building owners and managers turn their buildings into ‘safe havens’ that protect occupants from health risks linked to airborne contaminants and viruses.
‘Buildings as Safe Havens – a practical guide’ is the third in its suite of guidance for measuring, monitoring, and improving indoor air quality (IAQ) and the second produced with the support of Mitsubishi Electric.
A combination of technology and training can help housing association professionals ensure that their approach to damp and mould reflects the call for ‘zero tolerance’ made by the Housing Ombudsman.
The Property Care Association (PCA), has a carefully curated package of training options available to Housing Association professionals, that can be tailored to suit specific needs.
In addition, the Association can signpost professionals to its newly developed Condensation and Mould Diagnostic System, that can identify the root cause of the issue and provide impartial recommendations to remedy the problem.
Following the introduction of the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, there has been a sharp focus on dampness in tenanted buildings, with Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway calling for a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to damp and mould.
Leading British ventilation manufacturer, Vent-Axia, has donated ventilation units to local charity, Giving Back Crawley, as part of the refurbishment of its new base. A small charity that serves the local homeless community, Giving Back Crawley found a permanent place to operate from, including preparing and cooking hot meals, but the building needed a complete refurbishment following water damage. Vent-Axia supported this great cause with ventilation to help make the place a suitable home for the charity.
Vent-Axia was more than happy to help Giving Back Crawley. One of the company’s members of staff Linda Dawson regularly volunteers at the charity so was able to give a first-hand account of all the good work the charity does with helping the homeless in Crawley. Cooking and delivering over 100,000 meals in the last 18 months to those who need them most, Giving Back Crawley serves the homeless community in Crawley, West Sussex and is entirely run by volunteers. As well as serving their guests free meals, the charity provides the essential items they need to get by such as clothing, bedding and wellbeing items. Giving Back Crawley’s new base also allows them to run a free grocery shop and host regular health checks with paramedics.