Built environment

Clive Broadbent, L.AIRAH, discusses how climate change and increases in surface water temperatures could potentially encourage the growth of bacteria that prefer warm water (mesophiles), including Legionella.

Mark Lommers, M.AIRAH, looks at the repeal of Western Australia’s controversial Sewerage (Lighting, Ventilation and Construction) Regulations 1971, which for more than 50 years required the doubling up of toilet exhaust fans.

Nick Johns-Wickberg discovers how a heat monitoring tool developed by the University of Sydney is playing an important role in local sport.

Building management systems are vital for HVAC performance and efficiency, but if they’re poorly designed or maintained, they can cause serious problems. Chris Stamatis, M.AIRAH, and Trevor Smith, Affil.AIRAH, showed Nick Johns-Wickberg and Mark Vender how these complex systems work in practice.

Standards Australia and the International Code Council have partnered to develop a new protocol that will enhance climate data transparency and operability internationally across the built environment.

A report launched at Parliament House in November has highlighted the human impact of poor indoor air quality, framing it as an access and inclusion issue.

The Coalition has followed in the footsteps of the South Australian government, which earlier this year announced that it would not update the National Construction Code (NCC) for a decade.

What does “build tight and ventilate right” mean when applied to multi-residential buildings? Sean Maxwell, AM.AIRAH, investigates.

A research centre at Queensland University of Technology has set out an ambitious range of projects to build our knowledge of indoor air quality

AIRAH’s IAQ 2024 conference underscored the once-in-a-century opportunity to improve indoor air quality – and what we need to do to seize it.

Recognising the growing role of data and analytics in our buildings, AIRAH has published the Big Data Guideline, a free resource to support building owners, facility managers, consultants and service providers embarking on their big data journey. 

The adoption of ISO 16890 in Australia will support better filter selection and specification, according to Daniel McCaffrey, M.AIRAH, and Peter Mathieson, F.AIRAH, from AIRAH’s IAQ Special Technical Group.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, national leaders from a wide range of disciplines have sought to engage government on the need for improving indoor air quality.

The Wings is set to be the first office building in Belgium to generate its own geothermal energy and consume no fossil fuel.

Architect and biomimicry professional Jane Toner shares with us the principles of biophilia and the importance of designing buildings that are attuned and responsive to their natural surroundings.

Ambitious sustainable targets have been set by the host nation for the Paris 2024 Olympics to reduce the Games’ carbon footprint by half.

Living green walls can improve aesthetics, add a soothing touch of greenery to a space and lift our moods. But can they have a material impact on indoor air quality? Nick Johns-Wickberg investigates.

Much has been made of the poor ventilation in Australian classrooms, but the situation is even more dire for thousands of mining, construction and agriculture workers. Mark Vender investigates.

What are the big, overarching global influences that we are likely to see in the built environment, and particular in HVAC&R, in the lead-up to 2050?

AIRAH’s Indoor Air Quality Conference 2024 will take place on July 15–16 in the River Room at Crown Melbourne.