Verge 22: Anatomy of a Healthy Building

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Written By Marcos Reynaga

What makes a building healthy, and how do we measure its benefits?

That was the question posed to attendees at Verge 22 breakout session “Anatomy of a Healthy Building: Trends to Follow.” Panel speakers included Raman Tanwar, Honeywell, General Manager for Healthy Buildings at Honeywell; Seema Bhangar, Senior Indoor Air Quality Manager at WeWork; our very own Joanna Frank, CEO and President of the Center for Active Design (CfAD), official operator of Fitwel; and Kyle Pickett of New Buildings Institute as moderator.

“Today’s buildings can transform into the buildings of tomorrow.” — Joanna Frank

Session panelists underscored the importance of Indoor Air Quality for the well-being and productivity of building occupants, and how this can be continuously monitored and improved to help deliver a healthier environment, in addition to attracting investors and having meaningful impact on the value of your real estate. The panel also explored how simple design tweaks can drastically improve the health and performance of building occupants.

GreenBiz reported on the session in “Leading beyond LEED: The future of the built environment is healthy buildings and an inclusive workforce” featuring comments from panelists Joanna Frank, Raman Tanwar, and Seema Bhangar.

From GreenBiz:

While the idea of constructing new sleek, sustainable buildings is exciting, existing building stock is the world’s best chance to create the next-generation healthy built environment. Consider: In 2040, about two-thirds of the global building stock will be buildings that exist today, according to Bloomberg, which can’t be forgotten.

"We can’t build our way out of the issues that we have today and nor should we," said Joanna Frank, CEO of nonprofit Center for Active Design, which uses design to foster healthy and engaged communities. "While many people might want to focus on new buildings, existing buildings are the biggest opportunity."

With the right simple retrofit measures, today’s buildings can transform into the buildings of tomorrow. Indoor air quality improvements, mold reductions, accessibility upgrades, integrated pest management practices and energy efficiency enhancements can all foster healthier indoor environments. Plus, often, these renovations are more cost-effective than new buildings.

"A lot of the things that actually increase the health outcomes of your occupants, they're not expensive," Frank added, describing these renovations as "subtle and incremental changes that result in actually really meaningful impacts as far as both your occupants’ health and also the value of your real estate."

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Verge 22 was held October 25-27 in San Jose, California. Key topics for the 3-day program included Smart Systems, Healthy Spaces, Decarbonized Buildings, and Climate Resilience.

 

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