Nathan Wood is chair of one of the most high profile special interest groups in the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). The Health & Well-being in Buildings Group evolved out of the Association’s Indoor Air Quality group when members identified a need to reflect the use of building engineering solutions to improve the wider health and well-being of building users.
Since that time the group has worked closely with air quality campaigners to highlight the links between rising external pollution and health-related problems inside buildings. In particular, it has supported the work of World Health Organisation advocate Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah, who is also the group’s Honorary President.
It has produced two free guides: A Beginners’ Guide to Indoor Air Quality and Health & Well-being – a guide to good practice. The group is currently developing a ‘solutions guide’ for IAQ that outlines the appropriate use of many of the technologies and techniques now available to building owners and managers. This work is part of a wider campaign led by BESA to reinforce the need for buildings to be ‘safe havens’ from pollution and disease transmission helped by improved standards of mechanical ventilation.