The built environment’s role in public health, wellbeing, comfort and cognitive performance is attracting increased awareness, and has prompted the revision of CIBSE TM40: Health and wellbeing in building services originally published in 2006).
TM40 will be launched this month, although the executive summary has been available since November.
The new edition includes the latest research linking building factors to comfort and wellbeing.
‘Health and wellbeing’ is extremely broad in scope, ranging from acute health impacts, through comfort and performance, to fulfilment, joy and happiness.
The revised TM40 is mostly focused on the middle ground and on providing best-practice advice on the design, construction and operation of buildings to support health, comfort and wellbeing.
The environmental parameters covered in 2006 – namely, air, humidity, thermal comfort, light, acoustics, electromagnetic fields and water – are in the new edition.
There is a broader range of contexts, however, including new-build, non-domestic environments, homes, refurbishments, and some considerations of external spaces and site layout.
Important updates include the health effects of pollutants from indoor and outdoor sources, the non-visual effects of light, and the potential impact of electromagnetic fields from power lines or wireless technologies.
It includes recommended performance criteria – for instance, daylight levels and pollutant levels in water.
Guidance is also given on design, construction and operation, and an overview of monitoring approaches is provided, to allow building performance assessments.
● For details, and to download TM40, visit cibse.org/TM40