What solutions to design buildings to meet new health challenges?

Patrick Nossent, president of Certivéa: “As the country begins a long process of deconfinement, a possible return to the office, to school, to the stores requires rearrangements and changes of use in emergency in the buildings. But to meet these health challenges in the long term, we must go further and design healthy and efficient buildings, which provide a refuge function, in times of crisis but not only. "

Sanitary quality, flexibility, connectivity, services: the advent of the refuge building

Patrick Nossent: “The World Health Organization defines health as a state of physical, mental and social well-being and does not only consist of the absence of disease. Health therefore requires comfort, the quality of services, but also protection against extreme weather events. Quality of the building, flexibility of spaces, connectivity and good practices will play a central role for the quality of life of the occupants. "

1. The intrinsic qualities of the building: quality of indoor air, water and maintenance of spaces

• Ventilation, filters, measurement of indoor air quality;
• Measurement of water quality, maintenance treatments and decontamination of interior networks to avoid alteration of organoleptic properties (odor, color, taste, etc.), modification of physico-chemical characteristics (temperature, hardness, concentrations metals and organic compounds and microbiological contamination;
• Pollutant measurement; measurement of electromagnetic wave thresholds;
• Antibacterial and easy-care materials; waste storage space, etc.

2. Accessibility and flexibility of the building to adapt to user needs

• Modular interior fittings for managing the flow of people, spacing workstations;
• Modular uses of a building, in particular a public building: from a community hall to a place for the homeless, from a congress center to a field hospital, from a vacancy village to a quarantine center, etc.

3. Connectivity and digital to guarantee the maintenance of all interactions, in all circumstances

• To organize telework, need to be able to count on secure, reliable networks with online sharing and collaboration tools;
• Information services to promote the application of health instructions: number of people in a room, one floor, number of cars in a parking lot; connected watches to signal the safety distance; traffic status of public transport networks to avoid crowds, etc.
• Contactless opening of doors;
• Automatic cleaning of sanitary areas, etc.

4. Associated services and good practices to preserve health and promote well-being

• Steps to improve the Quality of Life at Work in companies with policies to raise awareness of health issues; psychological listening cell;
• Connected medical cabin to benefit from a teleconsultation or health check up;
• Gyms, nap rooms, quality collective catering space;
• Ergonomics of workstations, etc.

Health and climatic shocks: how to protect yourself sustainably?

The building must allow users to manage climatic and health shocks in the best possible conditions. Construction / renovation innovations and regulations gradually include these realities.

But the sector must above all participate in the sustainable improvement of living environments. This presupposes a multi-thematic commitment: energy sobriety and low-carbon installations, preservation of biodiversity, health and comfort of users, economic performance of territories, are all interconnected issues.

To support professionals in taking all of these issues into account, regulation alone is not enough. Voluntary certifications in sustainable development (HQE, R2S, OsmoZ) offer methodological frameworks, project management solutions, assessment grids, benchmarks of good exemplary practices and tools to enhance the efforts undertaken by professionals.

Patrick Nossent: “Building and preserving a sustainable and resilient living environment presupposes that we act in a global manner on the quality of life, the preservation of the environment and economic performance. The certification of private or public buildings and infrastructure on sustainable development issues allows professionals to provide a holistic response to these issues. "