Has Covid made our buildings less healthy?

Joint Lecture with CIBSE

What is the legacy of preventative measures introduced during Covid?

This lecture will look at the longterm effects particularly with more hybrid working and lower occupancy rates. Chris will explain the possible ways in which the emergency measures taken to ensure occupant health during Covid (e.g. very high ventilation rates, etc) might have had long term adverse effect on both buildings, energy use and their occupants health

What are the lessons for the future?

What are the potential negative energy use and health impacts of ‘over-ventilating’?

Are there other functional limiting factors?

Dr Chris Iddon is a ventilation expert and a visiting researcher at the University College London. As a member of the AIRBODS project he assessed the role of the built environment on the risk of ‘far-field-Covid’* transmission using analytical models as well as monitoring ventilation as part of the Events Research Programme that the Government used to enable the safe re-opening of events after lockdown. Between 2019 and 2022 he chaired the CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) Natural Ventilation group and has co-authored the CIBSE Covid Ventilation Guidance and the CIBSE Air Cleaning Technologies guidance. He has a background in biochemistry and has worked in the built environment for 15 years for SMEs and main contractors.

*Far–field transmission is linked to several super spreading events and is often correlated with poor indoor ventilation, long exposure times