Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

Owners and managers of office buildings are under greater pressure than ever before to meet the demands of the marketplace in attracting and retaining tenants.  With the intense competition to maintain high occupancy rates a management company must often exceed the expectations of their tenants, even beyond the legal and financial dictates of the lease.

Environmental concerns over the last couple decades have come to play a major role in commercial real estate development and management.  Over the last five to ten years greater emphasis has been placed upon indoor air quality (IAQ) than perhaps any other environmental issue.  Among forward-thinking real estate property managers it has nearly become a standard of doing business to have their buildings routinely inspected as part of a Proactive IAQ Monitoring Program.

Advantages of a Proactive Program to Property Owners

• The program builds value into the property, as a professional record of indoor environmental conditions are formally documented over time.

• The program reduces the chances of a 'healthy' building being labeled as 'sick'.  Problems or potential problems are quickly identified and corrected at minimal expense.

• Proactive IAQ monitoring protects owners against liability.  This is a major and tangible advantage of HBI programs.  It demonstrates that the owner has done due diligence to assure a healthy building or portfolio of buildings.

• Expanding on the above point, building owners with large building portfolios can use the routine inspections to demonstrate a cohesive, organized and coordinated indoor air quality policy. HBI can support such clients with written IAQ corporate policy manuals.

• The program enhances the relationship of management and tenants by demonstrating a genuine concern for the tenant's employees.  Less time is devoted to investigating and solving tenant complaints. 

• The proactive IAQ report provides critical third party documentation certifying effective maintenance standards and supporting engineering or operation budgets.

• The program can be used as an effective tenant attraction tool in the competitive real estate market.  Having a proactive IAQ program in-place immediately establishes a real estate ownership company within the industry's upper echelon. 

  HBI’s proactive IAQ monitoring program is one of the least costly and most visible ways that a landlord can communicate to its tenants that it has started down the path of green building best practices.  Building owners have already been awarded LEED for Existing Buildings credit EQ 1.1: IAQ Management Plan on the basis of HBI’s proactive IAQ program and we will be an integral part of the new BOMA 360 Program.

• Air quality is improved through regular monitoring of ventilation rates, building airflows, and filtration efficiencies creating a more comfortable and productive work environment. 

The Bottom Line For Property Owners

The primary goals of a property owner and manager include not only filling vacant space, but also preventing rentable space from becoming vacant.  Dissatisfaction with indoor environmental quality is one of the main reasons that office tenants claim when deciding to sever existing leases or not sign new ones.  This fact is not surprising in light of BOMA's and ULI's 1999 survey titled ''What Tenants Want', in which tenants from across the country rated features, amenities and services of most importance.  Number one on the list was comfortable temperature, followed by indoor air quality.

The direct and indirect costs of losing a tenant to indoor environmental concerns, or the value of gaining new tenants to a building perceived as 'healthy' in the marketplace, will dwarf the few pennies per square foot spent each year having a proactive IAQ program in place.  Such a program acts as an insurance policy against not just preventing future IAQ problems, but defending against accusations of existing ones.  Tenants lease and re-lease space for many reasons.  But in today's competitive real estate market, it is a sound business practice for property managers to leverage the indoor environment to their advantage.

The Future of Managing Indoor Air Quality

In the next few years it is likely that national and state regulations will require designers, facility managers, and property owners to meet mandated indoor air quality standards.  The EPA, OSHA, ASHRAE, ASTM, and other organizations are currently in discussions concerning national indoor air quality standards.  Hundreds of HBI's clients have found that our proactive monitoring programs not only provide them with the knowledge to keep up with developments in this dynamic field, but ensure that they will be in a position to quickly capitalize upon the opportunities presented by new regulations.

What Sets Healthy Buildings International Apart From Other Companies

Healthy Buildings International, Inc. (HBI) was the pioneer in designing and implementing proactive indoor air quality programs.  Starting in 1981, HBI's diverse professional staff has been applying extensive experience to address any indoor air quality related concern or problem that a property manager might face.  But most valuable is HBI's understanding of the real estate marketplace that has earned the trust of building ownership groups nationwide.

Today, HBI remains the preeminent IAQ monitoring firm with experience embracing over 4,000 buildings totaling over 400 million square feet of commercial space in no less than 45 countries. With 30 years of experience HBI has an unparalleled bank of indoor air quality and building systems data.   This data bank serves property managers by lending confidence that HBI's findings are accurate, the recommendations are realistic, and the report and certificate of inspection received carry the weight of prominent credibility.