The National Engineering Policy Centre report  Infection Resilient Environments: time for a major upgrade has just been published.

The report makes eight policy recommendations that together could improve how our indoor environments are designed, commissioned, operated, and managed. It considers the need to approach public health, building safety, sustainability and energy efficiency with joined up policymaking. Key messages include;

  • Establishing best practice – There is a need to develop a clear baseline for best practice in infection resilience by convening multidisciplinary expertise and developing meaningful standards.
  • Align with Net Zero strategy – government departments such as BEIS, DfT and DLUHC must ensure that major retrofit programmes designed to meet the commitments of the Net Zero Strategy also incorporate infection resilience.
  • Promoting building health – the UK Health Security Agency should undertake a communications campaign for building and transport owners, management and the public, that heightens awareness of infection resilience.
  • Ensuring that buildings operate as designed in terms of infection resilience – industry bodies and public procurement must drive improvements to commissioning of building systems to ensure they function as designed to provide safe environments
  • Establishing in-use regulations with local authorities to maintain standards of safe and healthy building performance over the building lifetime.

Click here to view the report.

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