of the Research

The issue of occupants’ health and safety is equally important for residential as well as commercial buildings. It is of no doubt that major portion of human lives is being spent in the buildings, which  has reinforced by the study of Gambatese, Rajendran and Behm (2007) stating that on average modern people spend 80 to 90 percent of their whole day (24 hours) in buildings (in-door). Based on this notion, the quality of in-door environment and sustainability of buildings is of critical concern for both research and practice. The poor quality of in-door environment can cause significant harm to the health and wellbeing of residents both physically as well as psychologically. It has been highlighted in the study that 68% of human diseases are caused by the low quality in-door environment and poor quality of in-door air (Leaman and Bordass, 2007). The most common diseases are respiratory allergies, asthma and depression. Along with this, the poor quality of in-door environment and pollution within building causes skin aging, hair shedding and loss, fatigue, leukaemia, infertility and cancer. It has further offered by Chuck and Kim (2011) that 2% of chronic diseases, 37% respiratory diseases, 5% leukaemia and 5% bronchial diseases are caused by the poor air quality in buildings. This increasing rate of diseases caused by in-door pollution and poor quality of in-door air calls for an immediate attention to the social sustainability issue in design and construction of residential and commercial buildings.The disastrous impacts of in-door environment quality has motivated the researcher to conduct current research with an aim of suggesting improvements in sustainable buildings.

Along with the catastrophic influences of in-door environment on health of the occupants, there in increased awareness among occupants regarding sustainability of buildings (Hwang and Kim, 2010). The emergence of social aspects of buildings has increased the concern of occupants about their health and wellbeing in long run. Due to this enhanced concern of sustainability, the construction sector is compelled to maintain high quality in-door environment of buildings. The increasing importance of green buildings and in-door environmental quality has motivated the researcher to carry out a study on association of in-door environment of green building with occupants’ health and wellbeing (Bluyssen,  2013).

Along with this, it is note able from the research that cost of economy is rising due to sick leaves long term illnesses of people who are being employed by organisations. In UK, the cost of sick leave has reported to be equal to 14 billion per year, which is burdening the economy (Ries et al., 2006). Therefore, in order to lower the burden of health cost from nation, the increasing importance has offered to concept of green buildings. The current study will deeply investigate the impact of in-door environment of green buildings on occupants’ health and wellbeing and it will serve as reinforcement for practitioners to focus on aspect of sustainability of buildings.

Followed by this, the notion of informed occupants is also emerging now a days. The informed occupants’ phenomenon provides that with advancement in technology the people are able to track the environmental performance of buildings (Rajendran, Gambatese and Behm, 2009). The ability of individuals to measure the health prospects of buildings in real time is laying pressure on construction industry to incorporate aspect of sustainability into construction of buildings. The contemporary occupants are empowered and they can refuse to live in buildings that have lower health prospects (Shiers, 2000). Therefore, the research on health and wellbeing issues due to building environment is mandatory to assist the practitioners for construction sector. The current study has aimed to pursue a real issue from construction industry and it will offer significant implications to industry gurus for promoting better health prospects based on green buildings.

1.Significance of Research

The current research study will contribute significantly to research and practice of sustainable buildings and its impact on occupants’ health and wellbeing. The current study will investigate all criteria of In-door Environment Quality (IEQ) including; thermal, visual, acoustic and in-door air quality. The current study will separately analyse the association of all criteria with occupant’s health and wellbeing, which will offer significant contribution in the stream of growing literature. The findings of the study will assist the practitioners to design their buildings in the way that may help them to increase the comfort and health prospects of occupants.

2.The Research Goals

4.1 Aims

The aim of current research study is to highlight the association of indoor environment quality of green buildings with occupants’ health and wellbeing.

4.2 Objectives

The following research will be conducted to fulfil the following objectives;

1. To identify the extent of indoor environment quality in green buildings.
2. To identify the association of indoor environment quality of green buildings with occupants’ health and wellbeing.

4.3 Research Questions

The present research study will assist to seek answers for following research questions;

1. What is the extent of indoor environment quality in green buildings?
2. What is the linkage of indoor environment quality of green buildings with occupants’ health and wellbeing?

3.Literature Review

In current era of environmental sensitivity and sustainability, the great emphasis has offered to design and construction of green buildings with an aim of enhancing comfort and wellbeing of occupants. The most of research on green building has incorporated the aspect of triple bottom line that addresses environment, social and economic perspectives of the buildings (Ries et al., 2006; Bluyssen, 2013). The green buildings are defined as one that have limited negative affect on health and wellbeing of occupants and on overall environment. There are two important facets that are being addressed by green building notion including the following;firstly, a green building has effective reliance on efficient usage of water, energy and other material (Singh et al, 2010). Secondly, the green building limits the impact of indoor environment on health and wellbeing on occupants by relying on sustainable building life cycle. The protection of occupants and environment is ensured by considering better site location, design, maintenance, operations and removal(Roper and Beard, 2006; Bluyssen, 2013). Therefore, it is notable that limited effect on human health is the main feature of green buildings. The green aspects of buildings lay an immediate focus on better ventilation, reliance on more sunlight and maintenance of high quality of indoor air that is crucial for preserving health and wellbeing of occupants. In this, context the indoor environmental quality is the main focus on green buildings.

5.1 Shift from Technical to Social Aspect

The research of green building has witnessed as major shift from technical and environmental aspect from asocial aspect. The technical and environmental aspect of green buildings was mainly focusing on environmental sustainability aspects of green buildings including; efficient utilisation of water and energy and efficient utilisation of other natural resources and reduction of carbon footprints(Zuo and Zhao, 2014).However, the research of green buildings has gone through many reforms during the last decade and increasing attention has offered to social sustainability of buildings (Fisk, 2000). The social sustainability of buildings has focused widely on the improvement of quality of livings and health and wellbeing of occupants. The theoretical foundation of social sustainability has offered by inclusion of stake holder’s theory with an aim of assessing the corporate social responsibility aspect of green buildings (Kibert, 2016). The stakeholder’s theory in context of green buildings has relied on the phenomenon that buildings must be able to provide a healthy and safe living environment to occupants and there should be a string consideration of social sustainability in building design (Spengler and Chen, 2000). Since the recognition of social sustainability concept, the green buildings are assessed on social sustainability tools with an aim of gauging their impact of occupants’ health and safety.

5.2 In-door Environment Quality (IEQ)

The indoor environment quality is one of the most important aspect of green buildings that is having direct influence on living quality and health and wellbeing of humans. It has offered by the researchers that poor quality of indoor environment can have negative impact on health of occupants both psychological and physical(Edwards, 2006). The literature has offered importance to different indicators of IEQ including; thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort and indoor air quality. The thermal comfort of the occupants refer to the mental satisfaction of occupants with thermal level of the building. It is important to consider that humans prefer the buildings that are neither too cold nor too warm, indicating support for optimum thermal level (Younger, Morrow-Almeida, Vindigni and Dannenberg, 2008). The thermal comfort is offered by maintaining an optimum dynamism of temperature and heath. The thermal level of buildings has strong association with health and wellbeing of building’s occupants as extreme temperatures and excess of humidity may contribute to numerous health issues affecting the human wellbeing in long run (Roper and Beard, 2006).

Likewise, the visual comfort is associated with subjective visual wellbeing that is shaped by the indoor visual environment. It has highlighted by Liang et al. (2014) that inadequate lighting within building can cause stress and depression among the occupants and therefore, may affect the health and wellbeing of occupants negatively. Followed by this, the good acoustic environment is linked with provision of healthy environment by preventing annoyance and discomfort for the occupants. Mainly, the acoustic environment of building is impacted by the physical properties of room that offer high sound quality to occupants, such as sound insulation and absorption capacity(Ho et al., 2008). The poor acoustic environment may cause both physical and psychological harm among occupants by hindering with relaxation and sleeping patterns. Finally, the IEQ addresses the indoor air quality, which provides that air should be free from any contaminants that causes harm and discomfort to people (Miller, Pogue, Gough and Davis, 2009). The high quality of air is ensured by adequate ventilation within green building and it offers greater surety of occupants’ health and wellbeing.

It has asserted by the prior researchers that main emphasis of green buildings movement is on effective maintenance of IEQ with an aim of offering healthier living environment and ensuring health and wellbeing to occupants. It has mentioned in the study of Edwards and Torcellini (2002) that in US and UK higher percentage of people are suffering from respiratory allergies and asthma that are mainly caused by indoor environmental conditions, such as poor quality of air, inadequate ventilation and inappropriate thermal conditions.  Further, the evidences from past research has provided that occupants of green buildings are likely to be more satisfied with the indoor environment quality and they have better health and wellbeing than occupants of traditional buildings (Chuck and Kim, 2011). The same has acknowledged by the study of Kibert (2016), carried out in perspective of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and its association with occupants’ health and wellbeing. The results of the study have revealed that building with high LEED ratings and improved IEQ were mainly having a positive influence on better health and wellbeing of occupants. Moreover, the evidences from number of researches have provided that occupants have offered equal importance to thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality aspects of IEQ in terms of their comfort and satisfaction with indoor environment (Fisk, 2000). The satisfaction is mainly the indicator of psychological wellbeing and it also hinders the anxiety, stress and depression among occupants. Therefore the notion of green buildings and high IEQ are largely associated with occupants’ health and wellbeing.

4.Research Methodology

The adoption of appropriate research methodology is highly important for effectively answering the underlying research questions. The current research will rely on mixed methods that is characterised as combination of quantitative as well as qualitative. The quantitative aspect of mixed method relies on numerical information and data is obtained in the form of figures with an aim of generating highly reliable and valid results (Kumar and Phrommathed, 2005). On the other hand, the qualitative aspect of mixed method is associated with in depth investigation of phenomena by conducting an exploratory research (Kothari, 2004). In present research, the insight from qualitative research will serve as the foundation of carrying out quantitative study to test the hypothesised association among indoor environment quality aspect of green buildings and occupants’ health and wellbeing.

6.1 Data Collection

The qualitative data will be obtained by implying focus group that is an effective way of gaining data from smaller number of respondents. The group members will be chosen based on condition of age (above 18) and occupants of green buildings. The focus group will address 8 respondents as according to the research suitable sample size for focus group is between 8 and 12 (Newman and Benz, 1998).

By contrast, the survey questionnaire will be administered for obtained quantitative data. The survey will be conducted from 350 respondents as the large sample generates highly valid results and sample size of greater than 300 is considered as large (Marczyk, DeMatteo and Festinger, 2005). The convenient sampling technique will be utilised for choosing sample and occupants of green buildings will be targeted.

6.2 Data Analysis

The qualitative data will be analysed by relying on content analysis method. While, in order to analyse quantitative data obtained from survey, the descriptive analysis will be carried out. The frequency of responses will help to display results in the form of charts and graphs.

5.Proposed Structure of the Dissertation

The current study addressing the research issue of indoor environment quality of green buildings and its association with occupants’ health and wellbeing will be comprised of six chapters. The first section will shed light on background information pertaining to current research issue. The rationale for carrying out present research study along with objectives and research question will also be incorporated in this section. The second chapter will include information based on review of relevant literature. It will enhance theoretical understanding of the subject and will guide formulation of hypothesis. The third chapter will address the research methods of study along with design and data collection and data analysis. The fourth section of the study will offer details of study’s findings and the results will be interpreted. The fifth chapter will discuss the key findings of research. It will also address the implications of study’s results for research and practice. Along with this, the limitations of study will also be highlighted and guidance for future researchers will be offered. Finally, the sixth chapter will incorporate bibliographic information of present research.

6.Work Plan

Time Scale

W3

W4

W5

W6

W7

W8

W9

W10

W11

W12

W13

W14

Accomplishments

Literature Review

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Final Dissertation

 

 

 

References

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Edwards, L. and Torcellini, P.A., 2002. A literature review of the effects of natural light on building occupants (p. 59). Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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