The National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) has launched its revised Indoor Environment (IE) rating tool for office buildings.
NABERS IE provides an easy to understand indicator of air quality, lighting, thermal comfort and occupant satisfaction in workplaces.
Initially launched in 2008, the tool underwent a major review to make it clearer and more valuable to users. The new tool was built with the assistance of some of Australia’s most prominent experts in property and indoor environment quality.
The new NABERS IE:
provides a more detailed breakdown of performance in all areas of the indoor environment quality, making it easier to identify needs and evaluate upgrades;
is up-to-date with the latest global standards;
has been updated from a 5 star scale to a 6 star scale.
Eight ratings were conducted during the pilot period. One of these ratings, the Verde Tower in Townsville, achieved 5.5 stars. It is the first building in Australia to score higher than 5 stars.
Evidence about the impact of indoor environment quality on employee health and productivity is mounting. A recent study published by Allen et al. (2015) in Environmental Health Perspectives found that people who work in well-ventilated offices with below average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide have significantly higher cognitive-functioning scores than those in offices with typical levels.
NABERS IE can be used as a tool to help owners investigate the performance of buildings on several key indicators for the quality of the indoor environment. Office of Environment and Heritage director, Tom Grosskopf, said it is important to address both the social and environmental impact of buildings.
“Better indoor environment quality in our workplaces will lead to healthier, more productive staff. Healthy productive staff will lead to a more competitive economy, and more vibrant communities,” Grosskopf said.
“We keep hearing that indoor environment quality is the next sustainability frontier for Australian buildings.
“The NABERS IE tool now gives building owners and tenants an opportunity to benchmark their performance against their peers and establish themselves as a building or employer of choice.”