The urgency to create productive work environments

More and more attention is being paid to health and comfort in buildings. No surprise there. The profitability of a business depends on the productivity of its employees. And as we work indoors more and more, climate factors such as temperature and humidity are becoming increasingly important. After all: the better the indoor climate in your building and the more comfortable people feel, the higher their productivity, and the fewer days lost to illness. But did you know that respecting individual needs is crucial to achieve high productivity and comfort?

Factors such as air quality, thermal comfort, daylight entry and light and acoustics are known to have a major impact on the health and comfort of building users.

Highest productivity at 20°C to 25°C

In its report Health, Well-being & Productivity in Offices, the Dutch Green Building Council states that poor air quality can lead to respiratory disorders and other diseases. Amongst others, the causes include poor ventilation. The study also states that thermal comfort has a major impact on workplace satisfaction and productivity. By avoiding uncomfortably high and uncomfortably low temperatures, you can achieve a considerable productivity boost. Research shows that highest productivity is achieved at a temperature between 20°C and 25°C.

Importance of personal room control

The findings on daylight and light are also interesting. You probably know that good lighting is crucial for user satisfaction. To harvest all benefits of daylight, innovative control systems for both sun blinds and artificial light should be implemented. Moreover, individual needs have to be respected in order to achieve high productivity and comfort levels.

This is mainly due to the fact that every building user experiences a different indoor climate as comfortable. The importance of personal influence is evident from all kinds of studies:

• There are more non-specific health complaints (such as dry eyes, nasal congestion) in buildings that do not offer the possibility for personal room control.
• Users who cannot influence the climate sufficiently are less satisfied with the thermal indoor climate and indoor air quality than users with sufficient possibilities for room control.
• The productivity of users in a workspace with indoor climate controls is (3%) higher than that of users working in spaces without personal influence.

Individual operation

Personalized room control is therefore of great importance for a healthy, comfortable and productivity enhancing working environment. Studies have shown that people feel more comfortable and are more productive if they can influence the room temperature, light and ventilation themselves. That is why we developed the Touchpoint One.

The control panel makes controlling the temperature in the office as easy as it is at home. The climate is already well controlled as standard, but the Touchpoint One offers an extra level of comfort by allowing users to adjust the indoor climate themselves. The control panel is very user-friendly and integrates heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and blinds in a single control unit. The design of the Touchpoint One was inspired by the consumer experience at home. It works intuitively, is therefore actually used and provides the important feeling of room control.

More concrete solutions?

Would you like to read more about health and comfort in buildings and find out which concrete solutions answer to the health and comfort needs of your building users? Download our white paper on this subject (including examples from practice).