From green to well – a new, anthropocentric approach to sustainability?

Energy-efficiency is one of the megatrends of our time. The entire real estate industry is talking about it and even politicians have long since been involved in the debate. The tenor: Our buildings must emit less CO2 and demonstrate improvements across the board in terms of environmental balance.There is no doubt that this is an important insight, even if its implementation and the associated expense continues to arouse controversy. However, it is the human factor that is often overlooked in the debate.

Various estimates make the assumption that people spend over 80 percent of their lifetimes in buildings. This is unique in our evolution and it is a fact that we must get to grips with. With this in mind, is the effect our buildings have on people not just as important as the impact they have on our environment?

So what exactly are we talking about? People are influenced by the buildings in which they live, work and spend their free time. Temperature, daylight, artificial lighting, acoustic loads and pollution – to name just a few factors – all have an impact on our wellbeing. Common examples include airconditioning systems that often make for stark differences between indoor and outdoor temperatures, and also the vapours emitted by building materials such as paints and lacquers. These not only smell a little unpleasant in new buildings, they are also detrimental to our health. In this regard, there is now a whole range of alternatives that investors and developers ought to be including in their new-build and revitalisation schemes. From passive cooling systems to low-pollutant building products, customised sound insulation and acoustics concepts, or the greening of spaces; there are countless possibilities.

At VALTEQ, we encourage investors and project developers to move the human factor into the focus of their building concepts at an early stage. Considerations that may at first entail greater investment not only have a social component, but also an economic one. If users have a sense of wellbeing in the spaces they occupy, then it can be surmised that they are satisfied tenants and will remain so for the long term. It is therefore also a form of risk management, and a timely one at that, coming as it does during times where many people have a heightened awareness for health issues. The first companies are already considering these aspects in their workspace planning. They have observed how a healthy indoor climate motivates their staff, boosts their productivity and leads to fewer sick days. With this, social responsibility, ecological foresight and investor interests go hand in hand – a win-win situation for all involved.