healthy buildings

Around 1800, nowhere on earth had a life expectancy above forty; poverty, infection and precarious shelter made early death the normal order of things. By 1950 the map of life’s journey looked very different: parts of Europe, North America, Oceania and Japan surpassed sixty years at birth, while many regions still hovered near thirty. Today the global average sits in the seventies, higher than any country imagined in time gone by. Crucially, these gains came at all ages, not only through lower child mortality but through safer adult lives. That arc of improvement is down to a healthier environmental situation: clean water, sewers, smoke control, daylight and ventilation, buildings you can heat, cool, clean, repair and support a healthier life.

Healthy buildings are the contemporary continuation of that story. They don’t just look after comfort; they shape health span, the years we live with clear minds, steady lungs, useful strength and social ties. They do this in quiet, cumulative ways: air that moves and is filtered, water that doesn’t stagnate, materials that emit toxins, light that eases tasks, green views that lower heart rates, acoustics that don’t over stimulate and logical layouts.

Maslow’s (hierarchy of needs) pyramid base reiterates this priority of support and health; air, water, warmth, rest, safety. These factors have been strengthened over time by the increase in regulations to health and safety and building codes to name two of many. That stable pyramid base allows us to reach the higher needs of belonging, esteem and purpose. Older-adult studies repeatedly show that a sense of purpose is associated with lower mortality. Architectural design enters twice into this healthspan equation: it provides the base (the unglamorous physics of survival) and then sets the stage for purpose by encouraging participation; walkable routes, visible stairs, studios and libraries that welcome, benches at the right distance, trees that shade and a variety of levels of interaction in public spaces.

The other side of the coin is acknowledging the damage of unhealthy environments. Unhealthy buildings amplify respiratory illness (asthma, rhinitis, sinusitis) through stale, particulate-laden air and damp that feeds mould. In the mid-20th century asthma was under-recognised; by 2010 the burden was unmistakable, UK data show millions of primary-care contacts and admissions for asthma around 2020, with the UK among the highest-prevalence countries, while Australia’s national surveys place prevalence around one in nine people and broadly steady from 2001 to 2018. (cks.nice.org.uk) Unhealthy buildings spread building-related infections, most notoriously Legionnaires’ disease from warm, stagnant water that aerosolises in showers, fountains and poorly maintained evaporative coolers: the UK now records hundreds of confirmed cases annually through national surveillance, and Victoria has seen notable recent outbreaks linked to contaminated water systems. (Department of Health and Aged Care) Unhealthy buildings also produce the diffuse misery called Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), resulting in headaches, eye and throat irritation, dizziness and fatigue, when no single culprit explains the harm; classic UK studies found that roughly a third of office workers reported multiple SBS symptoms, and the WHO once estimated up to 30% of new or refurbished buildings could be affected without good ventilation and maintenance. (aivc.org) Over years, chemical exposures in tightly sealed, poorly ventilated buildings and long-term pollutants like radon can drive chronic disease and cancer risk; here the geography matters, with UK radon maps showing pockets where a measurable number of homes exceed the 200 Bq/m³ action level, whereas Australia’s average indoor radon sits low at ~10 Bq/m³ (global average ≈40 Bq/m³), though localised hotspots still warrant testing. (ukradon.org) The fix is not a miracle; it’s a set of sensible design choices and maintenance habits. Openable windows, where appropriate, are a good starting point for a design quick fix, paired with routine flushing and disinfection of water systems, verified outdoor-air rates, ingress moisture control, and low-emission materials should be added to the design to-do list.

Ventilation is a non-negotiable. Perhaps the best all round solution is to pair balanced mechanical ventilation (with filtration and heat recovery where climate warrants) and openable windows where possible? Deliver fresh air to where people actually are, not just the ceiling. Make filter changes easy, standard sizes, front access, clear labels and set intervals people can keep.

Water is the chief architect of indoor troubles. We relentlessly design to shed rain, vent our bathrooms and kitchens to the outside, insulate continuously and detail to avoid cold- bridging, cold surfaces and condensation, and fix leaks quickly. Keeping indoor humidity roughly 40–60% RH (and never above ~70%): dry enough to discourage mould and dust mites, moist enough to protect our mucous membranes. It is a water control extraordinaire.

Good indoor air depends on what you first bring inside. Remember to specify low-emission (low-VOC) paints, sealants, adhesives, flooring, composites and furnishings; ventilate as much as possible during and after fit-out. Design for cleanability where you can, elegant flush skirtings, capped ledges, satisfying rounded corners, durable floor transitions, little design moves so the even littlest dust and spores have less opportunity to settle.

As mentioned earlier but worth repeating; Legionella thrives in warm, stagnant water, we are equipped to produce drawings to battle this and make good maintenance possible: primarily avoiding dead legs in pipework and locate plant so technicians can access and service without advanced gymnastics training.

At the personal scale, the common inhaler, nebulisers and humidifiers must be meticulously cleaned: try to rinse bowls after each use, wash chambers and masks daily with warm water and dishwashing liquid, air-dry components, service pumps and change filters as instructed, and use distilled or boiled-then-cooled water only. Spa baths: precisely and without fail follow the manufacturer disinfection guidance especially for jets and hidden pipework. I can’t even think about this without feeling queasy. Moving on.

Daylight is more than throwing in big windows. Aim for useful daylight especially across task areas and position windows to guarantee real views; trees, sky, people and the wacky weather. Daylight and greenery are linked to fewer human errors, better mood, and faster recovery in healthcare, all double bonus points for healthy building design. If you are add planting, make it biophilic reality, living leaves, shade and scent. Avoid the plastic plants, please.

Background noise and harsh reverberation sap concentration and raise stress, so start by treating sound as a design variable. Specify tested HVAC, sound-absorbing ceilings and wall treatments, and plan layouts that buffer noisy collaboration zones from quiet focus areas. For open-plan spaces, measure to ISO 3382-3 parameters: aim for short spatial decay of speech and good distraction distance so conversations die out quickly; WHO also ties chronic noise exposure to cardiovascular and cognitive impacts, so the health case is clear. (iso.org)

Address flicker explicitly. Many migraines and eyestrain complaints are triggered by imperceptible flicker from 50/60 Hz magnetic-ballast fluorescent lamps. A field study showed that switching to high-frequency electronic ballasts (tens of kHz) roughly halved headache and eyestrain reports in office workers. For LEDs, meet the EU ecodesign stroboscopic/flicker limits (PstLM ≤ 1.0 and SVM ≤ 0.9) to keep temporal light modulation below perceptible thresholds. In practice, specify drivers with documented flicker metrics and provide task lights so users can work under lower, steadier ambient lighting. (ScienceDirect)

Migraine affects about 1 in 7 people globally and is a leading cause of years lived with this disability; in the UK alone, around 10 million adults live with migraine. Glare, high contrast, and flicker are common triggers; reducing these triggers improves comfort and productivity. Neurodivergent occupants (including people with ADHD or sensory sensitivities) frequently report stress under harsh overhead lighting. AIM for specifying low-glare, flicker-controlled, dimmable schemes with localised task lighting and softer vertical illumination are measurably easier to inhabit. (The Lancet)

In older building stock, assume the presence of asbestos until proven otherwise; maintain an asbestos register and plan licensed removal early in any refurbishment. Treat lead paint in (pre-1997) buildings as a serious risk: test, contain or remove with controls. Remember radon wherever geology and construction suggest it, include testing in commissioning for tight envelopes, and provide routes to mitigate (sub-slab depressurisation, underfloor ventilation) if needed. These are not academic risks; they’re long-term exposures you can eliminate with planning.

In the household garden, potting mixes, composts, mulches and bulk soils can also aerosolise bacteria including Legionella. Open bags away from your face, keep mixes damp as you work to avoid dust, wear gloves and a simple mask, store bags in cool shade, and wash hands. Indoors, run exhaust fans a few minutes after showers and cooking, vacuum often, and never ignore the smell of damp, measure the humidity if you need to convince others, find the leak and fix the cause. If a room reliably gives people headaches or stinging eyes, check CO₂, filters and VOCs; all buildings should really come with a simple maintenance calendar.

Healthy Building Starting tips:

• Change or clean HVAC filters; label dates and set reminders.

• Walk your building with a humidity meter; keep 40–60% RH and fix leaks.

• Flush rarely used taps and showers; clean shower heads.

• Swap to low-VOC, unscented cleaning products; add HEPA to your Hoover/vacuums.

• Add or trim for greener views. Clean your windows and open the blinds.

• Map dead legs and hard-to-reach plant; design access or schedule workarounds.

• Post a simple one-page maintenance calendar/checklist where staff or residents actually see it.

• Open your windows regularly.

  
  

So, into the future, the path forward is clear as Brita filtered water, longer lives are made by us, not just medically managed. The same basic systems that carried us from age forty to the seventies, clean water, clean air, light, warmth, and maintainable buildings are still the factors that protect health today. If we neglect them, we slide backwards in time into the old realms of damp, smoke, infection, and fatigue; if we invest in Healthy buildings, we create years that are longer and better lived.