Healthy Buildings 2020
Now available expert presentations & videos of the European Event Series ‘Healthy Buildings, Healthy People’ with at least four web seminars in four different countries.
Under the title "natureplus Europe - Healthy Buildings 2020", natureplus and its international representatives organized an Europe-wide series of web seminars with building specialists, leading academics and materials experts from all over Europe. The 4 events (3 others had to be postponed due to Corona) took place from 19th to 29th October 2020. With a number of 140 external participants from 11 countries this seminar series was very successful. The ‘Healthy Buildings, Healthy People’ series provided with 16 speakers the opportunity to learn and network about:
- What a healthy building product is
- How good indoor air quality is determined
- How to measure and monitor for health and well-being
- The latest research and guidance on indoor air quality
- Best practice examples, products and case studies to enable healthy indoor environments.
The worldwide COVID pandemic has raised public awareness of health issues and this year people have spent more time than ever inside their homes. There is little discussion, however, about the role of buildings for human health, which are often anything but healthy. Many materials in our homes, schools and offices contain and emit substances that are harmful to our health and weaken our immune system.
natureplus WEBSEMINAR –Germany- : Indoor Air Quality – Understanding, Ensuring & Realizing Healthy Living?
The opening of the series of events used three lectures to explain the importance of indoor air quality: Firstly, Rolf Buschmann, natureplus Chairman and member of the Hygiene Commission, explained possible sources and significance of indoor air pollution. Vanessa Laumann from the leading European VOC laboratory eco-Institut (Cologne) explained what rules exist for indoor air quality in Europe and how exactly they carry out their laboratory measurements. Finally, Andrea Klinge from the Berlin-based architectural firm ZRS Architekten showed some impressive built examples of healthy living from her office.
ASBP WEBCONFERENCE –Great Britain- : COVID 19: The Importance of Healthy Building
The ASBP contribution was the biggest event at healthy buildings conference and showed great presentations from two top health professionals Sir Stephen Holgate and Sani Dimitroulopoulou. The keynote by Stephan Holgate “The Inside Story” about health effects of indoor air quality on Children and young people provides crucial findings and policy recommendations. Laura Roberts talks about air quality monitoring: There is potential danger of combinations of VOCs creating more harmful toxins in the air. Avoiding building products containing hazardous materials can be achieved by specifying products with the natureplus label, natureplus director Tilmann Kramolisch explained.
Stichting Agrodome WEBSEMINAR –Netherlands-: Bio-based Materials for Healthy Living
The contribution of natureplus partner Stichting Agrodome shows a presentation of bio-based ecological materials by Halbe Vlietstra, senior advisor at Oldenboom, a supplier of building products. Halbe Vlietstra provides an expert presentation (in Dutch) of concrete applications for bio-based building products, backed up by helpful graphics, pictures and technical data. It became clear that thanks to the advantageous product characteristics, e.g. cooling effects, dispersion ability, etc., sustainable building materials are by far not the more expensive and above all the healthier alternative in many applications cases.
IBO WEBSEMINAR –Austria- : Healthy Buildings: Contaminants & Pollutants in the Circular Economy
How contaminants and pollutants disrupt a recycling process and prevent Circular Economy Austrian expert Hildegund Figl explains at the IBO contribution to the Healthy Buildings series. End-of-life options for building materials may change over time - according to development of technologies. The construction industry needs to communicate/collaborate with the recycling industry to progress the most sustainable options. Hildegund Figl explains the advantages of building materials without pollutants or contaminants for end-of-life options. Such an important topic as we specify materials with an aim to build circular.