Information on the market drivers and impact of building design and construction on occupant health, wellbeing, and productivity are contained in a new RIBA-approved CPD from Armstrong Ceilings.
The Health, Wellbeing and Productivity CPD meets the RIBA CPD core curriculum subjects of designing and building it - design, construction, technology and engineering - on a general awareness knowledge level.
Designed to explain how to integrate user-centered interior design to positively impact the health, wellbeing, and productivity of occupants, the CPD presents the cost to major economies of not getting it right, with acoustics being a major bugbear alongside lighting, air quality, temperature and décor.
Armstrong's CPD suggests user-centered design as an evolution of conventional design where the project is divided up into small parts, with individual team members only really looking at their own part and not always considering the whole project and how people interact with it. Whereas the user-centred integrated approach is designed by a whole team at the same time so all options can be considered and improved.
It also presents the results of surveys on indoor air quality, where the use of low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) materials can improve the environment, and on thermal comfort, where the use of PCM (Phase Change Material) ceilings can optimise the internal temperature of spaces using passive energy-saving materials.
With acoustics being a main irritant, consideration is given to solutions for spaces with varying acoustic requirements, while the part ceilings can play in harvesting natural light is explained as part of improving productive working via enhanced visual comfort.
The CPD also explains how ceilings systems which deliver solutions for a variety of user comforts can also deliver green building credits such as BREEAM, LEED and Ska, with the ability to recycle old ceiling tiles adding further credits in all three schemes.
Case studies also quantify the return on investment for using ceiling solutions to deliver improved wellbeing in education and healthcare environments.