Indoor Environment
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Indoor Environment
Understanding your office environment
The NABERS Indoor Environment rating for offices allows you to compare the indoor environment performance of your office to other similar buildings, and is the first step in managing the building's impact on its occupants.
Managing the indoor environment quality of a building is an essential component of the sustainability plan for any commercial property. The quality of the environment created within a building is fundamental to its occupants' health and wellbeing. This is particularly true for office buildings where many people spend a large proportion of their working life, generally in an artificially maintained environment.
The indoor environment of a building is influenced by:
- Thermal comfort including temperature, humidity and air speed
- Acoustic comfort including the ability of a building to minimise external noise as well as the noise levels within the tenanted space
- Indoor air quality including ventilation effectiveness and levels of pollutants (chemical, biological and physical)
- Maintenance and cleaning of systems
- Lighting to maximise daylight whilst minimising glare and heat
- Office layout including the spatial arrangements of walls, partitions, furniture and equipment in relation to fixed elements like windows and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
The ability for a tenant or building manager to control and manage these factors varies. Building management generally controls and manages the thermal comfort, cleaning and maintenance of air systems and the ability of the building to minimise external noise, while tenants select the materials for office fit out and decide on the office layout.
There are three different types of buildings which can be rated under NABERS Indoor Environment - Tenancy, Base Building and Whole Building.