Healthy indoor environments
Monitoring for healthy indoor environments
A healthy indoor environment is the combination of clean air, adequate fresh-air supply and stable thermal conditions — measured continuously and benchmarked against recognised references. Monitoring turns 'the building feels stuffy' into an objective record building managers and occupiers can act on.
What a healthy indoor environment measures
The parameter set behind a healthy building
No single number defines a healthy indoor environment. The combination of pollutants, ventilation and comfort parameters is what matters — and what monitoring captures.
Ventilation
Proxy for fresh-air supply per occupant.
Particles
Outdoor ingress and indoor activity.
Chemistry
Materials, furnishings, cleaning products.
Comfort
Thermal comfort drives perceived air quality.
Continuous baseline
Calibrated sensors record CO₂, particulates, temperature and humidity through real occupancy patterns — not a single spot reading.
Periodic deep dive
Periodic laboratory testing for VOCs and formaldehyde adds chemistry the continuous sensors cannot resolve.
Ventilation tuning
Measured CO₂ and fresh-air data identify when systems run too lean or too hard, supporting setpoint and schedule changes.
Reporting & dashboards
Trends, exceedance summaries and benchmarked reports for facilities, ESG and wellbeing reporting cycles.
When to invest
Typical healthy-building monitoring scenarios
Workplaces pursuing WELL or Fitwel; landlords differentiating on indoor environmental quality; schools and healthcare estates with sensitive occupants; ESG and wellbeing reporting that needs measured rather than asserted IAQ performance.
Combine with BREEAM indoor air quality support, UK IAQ regulations guidance and office ventilation monitoring.
Benchmarks
Reference frameworks for healthy indoor environments
| Parameter | Typical reference | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CO₂ | < ~800 ppm above outdoor | BS EN 16798-1 Cat II |
| PM2.5 (24-h) | < 15 µg/m³ | WHO 2021 |
| TVOC | < 500 µg/m³ | WELL v2 Air |
| Formaldehyde (30-min) | < 100 µg/m³ | WHO IAQ guideline |
| Operative temperature | 20–24 °C (winter) / 23–26 °C (summer) | CIBSE Guide A |
| Relative humidity | 40–60 % | ASHRAE 55 / WELL v2 |
Build a healthy indoor environment programme
Continuous monitoring and periodic testing, benchmarked against the standards that matter for your asset and occupants.
Request a healthy-building proposalRelated services
Specific parameters