According to a report, ordering improved ventilation and other forms of disease control in public buildings could save billions of pounds a year on the UK economy by preventing ill health and its social impacts.
It is the first study to comprehensively assess the health, social and economic costs of airborne infections, including Covid. Even without a pandemic, seasonal respiratory illness costs the UK about £ 8bn a year in breaks and sick days, according to a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. In the event of another severe pandemic in the next 60 years, the social cost could reach £ 23 billion a year.
However, implementing improved ventilation in all buildings that require it could save at least £ 3bn a year; the figure could be higher, as the calculation did not include broader estimates of improvements in health and well-being, such as increased alertness and productivity as a result of improved air quality.
Greater gains could be made by improving ventilation and other forms of infection control in public buildings such as schools, hospitals and local community buildings, including libraries and nursing homes, where most transmission occurs.
“Yes, it costs money and yes, there are some complexities, but the benefits are there from an economic perspective,” said Cath Noakes, a professor of building environmental engineering at the University of Leeds, who contributed to the ‘report. “The pandemic has warned us of the dangers that lie ahead and we need better buildings to help us live with Covid and future illnesses. Now is the time for significant improvement in our indoor environments.”
The report, commissioned by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance in 2021, made eight recommendations to enshrine infection resilience to building standards and improve the health of indoor environments.
“Probably the biggest change is that we need to improve our game in terms of adherence to safe and healthy building performance standards,” said Professor Shaun Fitzgerald of Cambridge University, a member of the working group that prepared the report.
While new buildings must meet certain air quality and ventilation standards during design and construction, they are not necessarily overhauled to ensure that fans, filters, and windows continue to function as intended, or if use of a building changes over time.
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The report was welcomed by Vallance, as well as by those who have campaigned to improve air quality during the pandemic.
Vallance said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has made clear the importance of the infrastructure and the built environment for our health. I hope this report encourages a system-wide coordinated approach, collaboration and innovation required between government, academia, and industry to deliver the recommended transformational change. “
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds and a member of the Independent Sage, said: “We need to meet the same standards for air as for water. We no longer tolerate water. dirty because we know how harmful cholera was. We do the same for air. “