Objectives of the consultation
This draft guideline, developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), covers indoor air quality in residential buildings. The guideline explains how to reduce indoor air pollution. Strategies include controlling indoor pollution sources, ensuring good ventilation and achieving effective property maintenance. It also includes raising awareness of the importance of good air quality in people's homes and how to achieve this.
This consultation closed on 9 August 2019.
Supporting papers
To download the draft guideline documents that were issued for comment, please follow the links below.
- Indoor air quality in residential buildings - Draft guideline
- Indoor air quality in residential buildings - Documents to comment on (NICE consultation page)
- Comments template
CIBSE response
CIBSE supports the production of this guideline, which is much needed. We agree with the emphasis on source control, ventilation, maintenance, and awareness of occupants. Due to the complex mixture of pollutants that occupants are exposed to in homes, there is a need to prioritize, and we agree with the current emphasis on PM and formaldehyde (as well as consideration of VOCs more generally).
We have highlighted in our comments where we think there should be more focus on carbon monoxide. At the next iteration, there could be a review on the need to include other pollutants (e.g. NOx), depending on evidence of exposure and on technological developments (e.g. this may not be needed if transport measures have reduced exposure; on the other hand, gas filters may have become more widely available). We have included possible references to research and guidance on prioritization.
To read detail comments on different parts of guideline that the Institution submitted, please follow the link below: