At a Glance

Wellbeing
W ?
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Focusing primarily on non-domes c buildings, this guide The importance of employee

is intended for:
wellbeing has a$racted more
• Facili es managers a$en on recently as organisa ons
• Building owners try to adopt prac ces that can help
• Building occupiers them to increase their energy
efficiency while op mising the
• Building services
professionals produc vity of their staff. It is now
generally accepted that if an
• HVAC engineers
employee’s wellbeing reduces, her/
• Environmental and his produc vity will typically reduce
sustainability professionals
as well. So, workplaces should not
only be environmentally friendly
but should also be user
friendly.
All descrip ons of wellbeing
indicate that wellbeing is more
than just the lack of nega ve
situa ons, such as illness, but it
also includes posi ve features,
such as happiness. Wellbeing, in
fact, is a dynamic state of mind
which helps an individual to thrive
and happily perform to their
op mum ability. It includes
physical, mental, intellectual,
spiritual and social health.

Therefore, ‘well’ employees at

work not only are physically
and mentally capable to do their
Habitability Pyramid showing ranges of job but also are willing to develop
environmental comfort their personal and technical skills
and put extra efforts into their
works. In addi on, ‘well’
W E W
employees feel more loyal to their
organisa on and are connected to
their workplace.
Although wellbeing is to some extent influenced by the job,
workload and the team within which an individual operates,
the actual workplace can also considerably affect an
employee’s wellbeing. It is proposed that for wellbeing to
happen, all basic human needs iden fied by Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs (i.e. physiological, safety, belonging,
esteem and self-actualisa on) should be met. Similarly,
Vischer noted that there are three groups of interrelated
features, known as the ‘habitability pyramid’, that need to
be taken into considera on if occupants’ wellbeing is to be
achieved: physical comfort, func onal comfort and
psychological comfort.
Wellbeing
P C

Physical comfort concerns sa sfac on of basic human needs, which ensure one’s
health and safety and can be achieved by standard indoor environmental quality
(IEQ). Research has established that problems with IEQ factors (air quality, thermal
comfort, noise, and visual) of a building have a direct effect on the wellbeing and
produc vity of the occupants.

Sources of
air pollutants
I A

Indoor air quality (IAQ) can have both short term and long term impacts on the occupants’
physical health. Indoor air quality is a complicated concept. It is a constantly changing Bacteria
interac on of different factors such as sources of pollutants; opera on of building ven la on
systems, moisture and humidity, and occupant percep ons. These factors affect the types,
levels and seriousness of pollutants in indoor environment. Indoor sources of air pollutants
Dust
include outdoor air, building maintenance ac vi es, housekeeping, renova on and occupant
type of ac vi es.

Indoor air pollutants can be categorised into two main groups: biological and chemical.
Symptoms of health problems caused by biological pollutants include: sneezing; itchy watery
Mould
eyes, coughing, shortness of breath, dizziness, redness, fever and diges ve problems.
Chemical pollutants, depending on the type of the pollutant, have the poten al to cause
respiratory infec ons and damage and irrita on to the lungs.
Moisture

Smoke

Chemicals

Pet
Dander

Smog
At a Glance

T C

Thermal comfort is an important factor of IEQ. It is defined in Bri sh Standard

BS EN ISO 7730 as: ‘that condi on of mind which expresses sa sfac on with the
thermal environment.’ Although measuring thermal comfort is rela vely easy
(using well established metrics such as Predicated Mean Vote (PMV) and
Predicted Percentage of Dissa sfied (PPD), providing a comfortable environment for
everyone is difficult. This is due to the fact that thermal comfort is, to a great extent,
influenced by thermal adapta on of individual occupant which itself is related to factors
Personal comfort...
such as gender, race and age. According to the Health & Safety Execu ve (HSE) the best
that can be realis cally hoped to achieve is a thermal environment that sa sfies the
majority of people in the workplace. The HSE considers 80% of occupants as a reasonable
limit for the minimum number of people who should be thermally comfortable in an
environment.

Thermal comfort can be assessed through measuring four environmental factors: air temperature, mean radiant
temperature, rela ve humidity, and air velocity. All these factors are likely to be influenced by the building fabric and
services. Physiological factors such as clothing and metabolic rate, each of which varies between individuals and the
ac vi es to be performed within any specific space, also affect thermal comfort.

Thermal discomfort in a workplace can reduce employee’s ability to concentrate on a given task and, consequently,
it increases the number of mistakes. In addi on to this, research shows that thermal discomfort due to high
temperature can affect an individual’s heart rate and respiratory ven la on. Research also shows that when employ-
ees feel warm they express more nega ve mood and are less willing to perform. When employees feel cold they get
distracted as their bodies expend energy to keep them warm, less energy will be available for concentra on and
crea veness.

CIBSE Guide A recommends the following temperatures for different work environments:
Heavy work in factories: 13 °C
Light work in factories: 16 °C
Hospital wards and shops: 18 °C
Offices: 20 °C

Temperature Ideal temperature

varia on by radiators profile

Typical temperature
varia on in heated
space

Building occupant
sa sfac on survey
Wellbeing
N

Noise is defined as the unwanted sound that

disturbs concentra on and generally reduces
performance. Since open plan offices have
started to grow, the issue with noise has been
iden fied as an important factor affec ng
occupant’s wellbeing. Some of the sources of
noise are outside noise, the HVAC system; office
equipment and colleagues’ conversa ons
(phone conversa on as well as face to face
discussions).
There are two major issues related to noise in
open plan offices: irrita on from various noises
and lack of auditory privacy. Irrita ng noise
can affect concentra on and memory of the employees.
Noise from other colleagues’ conversa ons, telephones
ringing, and other irregular sounds create more
irrita on compared to the more con nuous regular
sounds such as noise from the HVAC system. To reduce
the effect of annoying noises, a background sound level
of 45dBA is recommended. Providing designated areas
for private conversa ons/phone calls can, to some
degree, compensate for the privacy issues in open plan
offices.

Visual comfort is related to ligh ng condi ons and the outside views from one’s workspace. Ligh ng
should sa sfy the basic human needs of visual comfort and performance, health and safety. The quality of
ligh ng can be determined by factors such as luminance, luminance distribu on, daylight, glare, direc onal ligh ng,
and colour rendering.
The required ligh ng level for office buildings is between 300lux and 500lux. Luminance distribu on controls the adap-
ta on level of the eyes. Extreme high and low luminance values and/or contrasts should be avoided as these can cause
glare, eye fa gue and a dull environment. Direc onal ligh ng can be used to provide a pleasant work environment by
illumina ng an object or structural features from one direc on. Colour rendering index indicates the ability of a light
source to reveal the colours of various objects in comparison with natural light. Numerically, the highest possible value
for colour rendering index is 100. In office environments, colour rendering index of 80 is acceptable. This can be
achieved by typical LEDs. Although visual comfort can be achieved by the combina on of daylight and ar ficial light,
daylight is preferred as it improves health and happiness. Having access to windows can also provide longer distance
views which helps the eyes to adjust and re-focus. This reduces fa gue and headaches. Pleasant views can fulfil the
nature connectedness need.

Luminance

Indoor ligh ng

Natural ligh ng
At a Glance

Func onal comfort refers to those elements of the building that can help employees to
perform their job effec vely, such as flexible and adaptable furniture and designated spaces
for different types of tasks. Studies show that personal workspace in terms of size and
aesthe c appearance, office layout, decora on and cleanliness can considerably affect
occupants’ wellbeing. Open plan offices have the poten al to increase collabora on; however it is important that a
balance of collabora on and contempla on is maintained in a workplace. A good layout with breakout spaces,
collabora on spaces and contempla on spaces help with
concentra on, confiden ality and crea vity.
Health experts have warned that long periods of siLng can
increase the risk of heart disease and obesity. It can also
cause other physical health issues, such as back ache and
repe ve strain injury, and that an ac ve lifestyle outside of
your work life is simply not effec ve enough to compensate
that. Providing flexible and adaptable furniture can improve
the physical health of the employees. Sit-stand desks, for
example, have grown massively in recent years.

Work is a major source of stress with issues such as work overload, Personal
complex tasks, too much or too li$le control and workplace comfort
rela onships being some of the big problems. If it is difficult to
tackle stress at its source, the work environment should at least
help the individuals to cope with stress.
Awareness of/having access to the natural world is, for example, an essen al
component of health and wellbeing. Incorpora ng natural elements into the
built environment (known as biophilic design) not only has aesthe c
advantages, it reduces the level of anxiety, increases vitality and improves
a$en on of the individuals. It can prevent fa gue when working on
projects that require high concentra on.

Windows can play an important role in improving psychologi-

cal comfort. Windows not only provide daylight and fresh air
for buildings, but also provide a view of the outside world and
fulfil this psychological need. Internal landscape also affects
psychological comfort. Sounds of nature to mask noise (e.g. the
sound of running water) and real greenery help individuals to
recover from psychological stress. When it is not possible to have
indoor greenery, images of nature can provide an alterna ve
solu on.
Wellbeing
References:
Wellbeing advice and consultancy services at BSRIA
• Clements-Croome D, Sustainable Intelligent Buildings
for Be*er Health, Comfort and Well-being h$p://
Our services include: www.derekcroome.com/Document%20Files/
SoV Landings - ensuring the design meets the needs of the occupiers. DENZERO.pdf

Mock-up tes ng - tes ng a design idea before construc on to allow for low cost • ASHRAE Guideline 10P, Interac ons Affec ng the
Achievement of Acceptable Indoor Environments,
design changes. Second Public Review, ASHRAE, Atlanta, USA (2010)
Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) - inves ga ng ven la on problems, • EPA Biological Pollutants' Impact on Indoor Air
thermal comfort complaints and sick building syndrome. Quality h$ps://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/
biological-pollutants-impact-indoor-air-quality
Post occupancy evalua on - determining what was planned was
• Bri sh Standards Ins tute, European Standards
delivered. Ergonomics of the thermal environment - Analy cal
Indoor air quality and odours - measurement of the quality against standards. determina on and interpreta on of thermal comfort
using calcula on of the PMV and PPD indices and
Building manuals and user guides - ensuring operators and occupiers local thermal comfort criteria BSI, BS EN ISO
understand how they can interact with the building. 7730:2005, 52pp, 7 figs, 21 tabs, refs

Find informa on on our website: h2ps://www.bsria.co.uk/services/design/well-being/ or
contact our team on UK +44 (0) 1344 465578
BSRIA Bookshop: Sample selec on of
publica ons on building services and building
design. PDF downloads are free for members at
www.bsria.co.uk
• The So@ Landings Framework,
Way M, Bordass B, Leaman A, BG54/2014,
March 2014, 33pp
• Building Performance Evalua on in Non-
Domes c Buildings, Agha-Hossein S, Birchall S
and Vatal S, BG 63/2015, August 2015, 30pp. An
equivalent BPE book on domes c buildings by the
same authors will also be published shortly...
• Lan L, Wargocki P, Wyon D, et al, Effects of thermal
discomfort in an office on perceived air quality, SBS
symptoms, physiological responses, and human per-
formance Indoor Air, 18th April 2011, 376-390 h$ps://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21306437
BSRIA Annual Review 2015/2016: • CIBSE CTT8 CIBSE Top Tips 8: Temperature in Indoor
Workplaces (Thermal Comfort)
Recent ar cles available in BSRIA’s h$p://www.cibse.org/knowledge/knowledge-items/
2015 / 2016 Annual Review: detail?id=a0q20000006obXh
• Beatos-Arribas B
• Cooper C, Human spaces report: Biophilic design in
Wellbeing. Indoor
the workplace: h$p://humanspaces.com/report/
environmental quality
biophilic-design-in-the-workplace/
• Knights C
Indoor air quality in • WORLD GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL Health Wellbeing
the built environment
and Produc vity in Offices h$p://www.worldgbc.org/
• Hogg R ac vi es/health-wellbeing-produc vity-offices/
Noise in the Built Environment

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www.bsria.co.uk/informa on-membership/events/ or
A series of free topic guides has been contact our team on UK +44 (0) 1344 465578 .
wri$en on a range of
subjects. • View BSRIA’s webinar on thermal comfort
• Read our latest guide on • Find out more about BSRIA’s SoV Landings User Group
indoor air quality.
BSRIA’s Delta T:
BSRIA Blogs: example ar cles:
Tassos Kougionis, Principal Consultant –
• Middlehurst G Residen al for BSRIA Sustainable Construc on,
University of Reading Research Study:
Indoor Environmental Quality and will be wri ng a series of ar cles for wellbeing in
occupant well-being our Delta T magazine over the course of 2017. The
September 28, 2015 first ar cle featured in our October 2016 edi on
• Vatal S focused on Wellbeing and discusses the impact of
Overhea ng in homes overhea ng in residen al proper es. Tassos’s
June 29, 2015 series will also touch upon acous cs, IAQ and
ligh ng.
Find more BSRIA blogs here
Find out more about BSRIA’s Delta T

TG10/2016, November 2016

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