EVALUATION OF HEALTH AND COMFORT IN OFFICE BUILDINGS (HOPE PROJECT): ANALYSIS OF ITALIAN RESULTS

摘要

The EU project HOPE (Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient buildings) aimed to characterise building performance in both energy efficiency and occupant health and comfort. The first phase of fieldwork in this project involved the assessment, by building checklist and occupant questionnaire, of 71 office buildings and 98 residential buildings at European level. The second phase involved environmental measurements in a subset of buildings, with measurement plans based on the outcome of the first stage. This paper presents results obtained from the Italian office building sample (4 office buildings located in Milan). Although the investigated office buildings were built or converted and retrofitted recently, taking care of health and comfort issues, all the buildings were classified as "unhealthy buildings". The main problems found were: non complete smoking policy, high levels of radon, particulate matter, carcinogenic VOCs, CO and NOx,and possible presence of biological pollutants. The environmental measurements performed in a subset of two buildings led to a final classification and showed in general a good agreement with phase 1 assessment, indicating the effectiveness of phase 1 tools in selecting measurement plans and assessing health and comfort hazards in buildings.