Awareness of the impacts of climate change, rising energy prices, fuel poverty and a demand for energy security have prompted significant changes in design thinking, construction practice, building materials and building legislation aimed at reducing energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. A particular example of this is the fabric first approach and increasing requirements for air-tightness in housing. Whilst this achieves a primary objective of reducing heat loss through ventilation, other requirements for ventilation have not kept pace and there is emerging evidence of poor indoor air quality and inadequate ventilation. This in turn has been linked to a multitude of public health issues, particularly for conditions such as asthma, allergies and COPD that are all known to be exacerbated by poor air quality.

Our goal is to bring public health and building professionals together with architects and their clients to identify shared research questions and develop ways of addressing these issues, with an overall aim of supporting the design of healthy, low energy homes. Despite shared interests between the built environment, environmental health and medical research communities, they are generally not well connected. Indeed there is also very little connection between the housing research and fuel poverty communities as well. The programme therefore aims to bridge the gap between these complementary fields, providing a platform for discussion and collaboration while facilitating knowledge exchange to the built environment industries, such as housing associations and architects. The programme will involve a trans-disciplinary team comprising of academics and industry professionals from the fields of respiratory health, indoor air quality and the built environment.

Potential Impact:
The intended audience and beneficiaries of the programme include built environment professionals (architects, ventilation suppliers, Mechanical and Electrical contractors), organisations involved in the delivery of airtight dwellings (Housing Associations, clients, sustainability consultants, government bodies and policy makers), and ultimately the end user (home owners and tenants). Similarly, the programme would be of benefit to organisations interested in public and environmental health (such as public health charities, health care providers, and environmental health officers).

Specifically, anticipated impacts from the planned outcomes include:

1) Advances of building policies and industry standards for ventilation and energy to ensure the protection and enhancement of occupant health in airtight dwellings, through improvements of indoor environmental conditions
2) Improvements in the design process to recognise the health implications of architectural design decisions
3) International development through the involvement of overseas participants and dissemination of results worldwide through an online platform
5) Economic benefits through the hosting of networking activities, engagement from international participants, and the development of funding proposals (UK and European based) at the sandpit event
6) Advancement of the quality of housing provision for both private and social housing sectors
7) Improvements to public health services and associated economic benefits, through advancing knowledge for the prevention and treatment of Building Related Illnesses, such as asthma, allergies and respiratory diseases
8) Enhancement of quality of life through improvements of indoor air quality and thermal comfort
9) Advancement of energy efficient design strategies to reduce carbon emissions and meet the targets set out by the Climate Change Act (2008)
10) Development of professional (management, networking, presentation, collaboration) and academic (methodological, analytical) skills of network participants that can be applied in all employment sectors

It is anticipated that the proposed research network will ultimately help to improve the design of energy efficient buildings, particularly within the residential sector, while enhancing the quality of life of the building occupants, through improved indoor air quality and ventilation provision. In the short term, it is expected to stimulate new collaborative and/or applied research projects through sustained communication and participation of both academic and non-academic participants in the sandpit event, and also explore the development of new products and services to achieve these goals. In addition, the network will help to inform the proposed changes to the Scottish Building Regulations regarding ventilation provision over the coming years, following the consultation in February 2015.

Where possible, the impact of the research network will be monitored. For example, the impact of dissemination activities can be observed through website analytical tools, number of citations and download statistics.