2024 Healthy Buildings Barometer Urges Action for Healthier European Buildings

2024 Healthy Buildings Barometer Urges Action for Healthier European Buildings

(IN BRIEF) The 2024 Healthy Buildings Barometer (HBB) launches, revealing alarming statistics about indoor health and comfort in European buildings. With one in four Europeans living in spaces with poor indoor air quality and over 30 million affected by insufficient natural light, the call for action at EU and national levels is urgent. Spearheaded by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), the HBB proposes a comprehensive framework for healthy, sustainable, and resilient buildings, emphasizing five dimensions crucial for human well-being. These findings underscore the critical need for EU policymakers to prioritize healthy buildings alongside climate mitigation efforts, with the HBB offering concrete recommendations for achieving this goal and highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of investing in healthier building practices.

(PRESS RELEASE) COPENHAGEN, 11-Apr-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Indoor health and comfort in European buildings are severely lagging. One in four Europeans resides in buildings where indoor air quality falls below national standards and more than 30 million citizens are affected by their dwellings being too dark, which can negatively impact both mental and physical health.

In this context, the 2024 Healthy Buildings Barometer (HBB) launches today with a clear message: Action is needed at EU and national level to deliver healthy homes, workplaces, schools and hospitals.

Since 2015, VELUX has facilitated the Healthy Homes Barometer project, tracking the state of European homes. The new edition, now called HBB, is developed by Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE). It determines the need for significant action towards healthy buildings across all major building types and provides a way forward, including a definition and framework for healthy, sustainable and resilient buildings.

“Healthy and affordable buildings should be the only kind of buildings in which people live, learn, work, play or recover.Ensuring all Europeans have access to healthy and affordable buildings should be a priority for EU policymakers. We hope that this report can serve as both inspiration and a concrete tool for policymakers by providing specific recommendations and examples”, states Fleming Voetmann, Vice President of External Relations & Sustainability at VELUX Group

View the report here.

Healthy buildings also deliver for the economy and the climate as case studies featured in the HBB show an 11.5% return on investment in renovation for a public building, plus a 30% reduction in climate impact. Moreover, healthier workplaces could lead to an additional €40 billion a year of gross added value to the European economy for every 1% improvement in employee performance.

Pivotal moment for European building and climate policy

The new framework presented in the HBB comes at a pivotal moment for European building and climate policy. It provides a reference point needed by national governments for the implementation of the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

“Investing in healthier, more efficient and resilient buildings is a triple win strategy, which puts people at the centre of the transformation to a sustainable society. The Healthy Buildings Barometer provides decision-makers with a coherent framework that captures relevant parameters to define priorities”, says Oliver Rapf, Executive Director at BPIE

Buildings that deliver on the five dimensions outlined in the new framework have a measurable impact on mental and physical health. Fewer sick days are taken, and performance in the workplace and in classrooms goes up from healthier workplaces and schools, including 10-18% increase from more exposure to daylight alone.

Introducing the healthy buildings framework: Five dimensions

To guide EU policymakers on what makes a building healthy, sustainable and resilient, the HBB establishes a landmark new framework based on sound scientific research and illustrated through 12 case studies from across Europe.

The framework is based on five interrelated dimensions with the following characteristics and objectives: 1) improve mental and physical health, 2) designed for human needs, 3) sustainably built and managed, 4) resilient and adaptive, and 5) empowering people.

Each dimension is composed of a set of indicators, with a total of 24 indicators, guiding stakeholders in their decision-making process to achieve truly healthy, sustainable and resilient buildings.

Way forward: Building policies must mainstream health alongside climate mitigation

The HBB takes a holistic approach, presenting several people-centric policy recommendations that call for enhanced collaboration between EU and national governments to develop stricter regulations and standards that prioritise health in addition to energy performance.

To strengthen existing legislation, healthy building indicators should be integrated into the EU’s central data repository on buildings, the EU Building Stock Observatory (BSO), as well as national policy instruments, including financing.

Making data accessible so that buildings’ health, sustainability and resilience can be tracked over time and ensuring decision-making tools such as building information modelling, renovation passports, or strategic and procedural tools will also contribute to the progress towards healthier European buildings, the HBB shows.

About BPIE 

BPIE (Buildings Performance Institute Europe) is a leading independent centre of expertise on energy performance of buildings, providing data-driven and actionable policy analysis, advice, and implementation support to decision-makers in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Founded in 2010, BPIE combines expertise on energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, and health and indoor environment with a deep understanding of EU policies and processes. A not-for-profit think-tank based in Brussels and Berlin, our mission is to make an affordable, climate-neutral built environment a reality in Europe and globally. https://www.bpie.eu/

About the VELUX Group 

VELUX roof windows have been bringing daylight and fresh air into peoples’ homes around the world for more than 80 years, creating better living environments. We offer a range of products including roof windows and modular skylights, decorative blinds, sun screening products, and roller shutters, as well as installation and smart home solutions. They help create bright, healthy, and energy-efficient places for people who live, work, learn, and play under the roof. We work globally – with sales and manufacturing operations in 37 countries and around 11,700 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company owned by the Villum Foundation and the Kann Rasmussen family. In 2023, the VELUX Group had a total revenue of EUR 2.91 billion while VKR Holding had a total revenue of EUR 3.97 billion. The same year, the Villum Foundation and the VELUX FOUNDATION donated a total of EUR 184.6 million in charitable grants.
For more information about the VELUX Group, visit velux.com.

Media Contact:

Christian Skov Hansen
Head of Press, VELUX Group
christian.hansen@velux.com
+45 21 71 95 86

SOURCE: VELUX Group