Vent-Axia is pleased with BEAMA’s new indoor air quality guidance for the UK’s Green Deal Programme. The document, entitled ‘Avoiding Indoor Air Quality Problems Associated with Fabric Improvements’, clearly explains the health risks associated with poorly ventilated buildings and challenges Green Deal Providers to specify continuous ventilation with insulation packages to ensure good indoor air quality:
According to BEAMA's guidance, 20% of UK homes* are affected by condensation and mould growth, with many factors contributing to this such as poor thermal performance of the building fabric, inadequate heating, lifestyles of occupants and inadequate ventilation. Although the Green Deal offers an opportunity to address these issues BEAMA states that it can as equally exacerbate them without understanding and minimising the risks.
To avoid the degradation of building fabric and health issues caused by inadequate ventilation, BEAMA's guidance advises that the overall objective when refurbishing buildings is to create an ideal balance between heating, insulation and ventilation. BEAMA adds that the recommended approach to achieve a balanced refurbishment involving internal or external insulation improvements is to specify continuous ventilation.
Continuous ventilation is a simple solution to air quality problems. If ventilation is not considered when improving the air tightness of a dwelling as part of an energy efficiency package Green Deal Providers and installers may face reputational risks and remedial costs.
'Fantastic opportunities':
"At Vent-Axia we welcome the introduction of BEAMA's Green Deal indoor air quality guidance. The Green Deal offers fantastic opportunities for households to update and improve the efficiency of their homes while reducing UK carbon emissions, but this cannot be at the expense of good indoor air quality. Ventilation needs to be considered when insulating homes and continuous ventilation offers a simple, effective solution to improving the indoor air quality and comfort of these homes." says Lee Nurse, Marketing Director at Vent-Axia.
Designed to work with the natural air infiltration, continuous ventilation systems control the air path through the home. As a result, they prevent the migration of damaging humidity and pollutants, providing near silent energy efficient ventilation, and they are ideal for retrofitting. The latest continuous fans also offer heat recovery.
BEAMA's guidance document 'Avoiding Indoor Air Quality Problems Associated with Fabric Improvements' is available free to download at www.beama.org.uk.
For further information on all products and services offered by Vent-Axia telephone 0844 856 0590 or visit www.vent-axia.com.
More information:
- *The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors states that one in five UK homes are affected by condensation and mould growth.
- BEAMA is the independent expert knowledge base and forum for the electrotechnical industry for the UK and across Europe. Representing over 300 manufacturing companies in the electrotechnical sector, the organisation has significant influence over UK and international political, standardisation and commercial policy.
- According to the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Association, poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is responsible for 2m healthy life years lost annually across 26 EU member states. The European Union is planning a review of all IAQ legislation this autumn.
To download the BEAMA document, 'Avoiding Indoor Air Quality Problems Associated with Fabric Improvements', please click on the link near the bottom of this web page (PDF doc - 657kB file size).