Healthy building certification organization Fitwel is partnering with air monitoring company Awair to integrate commercial-grade IAQ sensor data into its certification platform, the companies said Wednesday. The goal is to streamline the certification process for building owners and enable performance-based verification of IAQ strategies.
"This partnership … will enable building owners to verify critical health strategies through seamless data integration rather than manual documentation," Fitwel CEO Joanna Frank said in a statement.
The Fitwel healthy-building certification is based on more than 7,000 academic research studies, the company said. With its Omni sensors, Awair delivers real-time data on five IAQ parameters including particulate matter, or PM2.5, volatile compounds, carbon dioxide, temperature and humidity, the company says.
Studies show building operators can improve tenant retention and employee satisfaction by showing occupants they’re monitoring and maintaining high levels of IAQ.
More than two-thirds of millennial and Gen Z employees have concerns about the long-term effects of poor indoor air quality, more than double the rate of older workers, according to a report released in September by workplace solutions company Fellowes.
The perception of indoor air quality coincides with building operators’ ability to charge rent premiums and secure longer-term leases, according to research compiled by the International WELL Building Institute, or IWBA, which also confers a healthy building certification.
But fewer than half, or 39%, of employees believe their employer is taking steps to ensure healthy IAQ. Thirty-six percent named visible use of IAQ monitors and access to real-time IAQ data as steps that could increase their confidence in air quality.
Fitwel’s collaboration with Awair will reduce documentation requirements and combine the sensor company’s technology with the certification firm’s research-backed framework, Fitwel said in a release.
Awair has deployed more than 250,000 monitors across 80 countries, it says. Clients include JPMorgan Chase, Empire State Realty Trust and Tishman Speyer, according to its website.
“As the demand for indoor environmental monitoring and analytics continues to be a top priority within the built environment, our goal is to provide cleaner, healthier, and the most sustainable solutions for building environments worldwide,” Steve Levine, CEO of Awair and AtmosAir Solutions, said in a statement.
Tony Abate, vice president and chief technology officer at Atmos Air Solutions, said air monitoring will become more important over time as building occupants demand it.
“You can see things that are happening” with monitoring, Abate, a member of the ASHRAE Standards Committee, told Facilities Dive. “You can … stop [these things] before it’s a downward trend, before it gets to a point where it’s out of control.”
Abate is a founding member of an ASHRAE Technical Committee, TG2.IAQMP, which creates standards for IAQ monitoring devices. He’s also been named commissioner of the newly launched Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air, an initiative led by IWBI to elevate indoor air as a critical public health priority and encourage global solutions.
“Maximizing the things you can do to create clean and healthy indoor spaces will in turn also maximize your [building] efficiency,” said Abate. “I think that’s probably less understood by many people in the industry and the engineering community, but I think they’re starting to understand that.”
