‘Green’ buildings healthier – study

FEELING down‚ sleeping badly and not performing optimally at work?

It may be that the building where you work is just not green enough.

A new study out of Harvard University has found that the lighting‚ temperature and design of a building have a major effect on the people who work there.

The study was the first to show that working in green-certified buildings can improve employee decision-making.

It found that occupants in green-certified office environments scored 26% higher on tests of cognitive function‚ had 30% fewer symptoms of sick building syndrome‚ and had 6% higher sleep quality scores than those in high-performing but non-certified buildings‚ post-doctoral Harvard fellow Piers MacNaughton‚ who led the study, said.

He and the team looked at 10 high-performing buildings in five cities across America to study the relationship between building conditions and occupants’ productivity and well-being.

Researchers assessed the effect of lighting and thermal conditions on the cognitive performance of office workers.

Included in the study were 24 Harvard employees who agreed to take part in the week-long health assessment‚ which included two cognitive function tests‚ daily surveys‚ and wearing watches that tracked sleep quality.

Environmental factors‚ like thermal conditions and lighting‚ were also monitored.

Temperatures in the official comfort zone‚ as defined by the American Society of Heating‚ Refrigerating‚ and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)‚ had a positive effect.

Jack Spengler‚ co-principal investigator of the study‚ said: “When you think of the urbanisation around the world‚ we will see a doubling of our built environment before the century is over.

“We [must] do it right . . . to optimise the conditions in those environments.”