Catriona Brady the Head of Better Places for People at the World Green Building Council's (WGBC). At the second thematic event held by INTENSIFY in Treviso Italy, Catriona delivered a presentation titled 'Engaging Stakeholders around a low carbon future' to inform attendees of some of the strategies used by the WGBC in their better places for people project - predominantly using human health as an engagement tool for a more sustainable built environment. During the session Catriona announced the launch of the WGBC's 'Guide to healthier homes and a healthier planet'. This publication is available at the WGBC website: www.worldgbc.org.
Catriona first discussed the business case for healthier buildings, highlighting some of the case studies and research reports published by the WorldGBC in the last five years (all available at the www.worldgbc.org website). A truly sustainable building should be beneficial to both people and the planet, by definition. Therefore a business case for green buildings being better, healthier and more productive places for people to live in, work and learn can be gathered by demonstrating return on investment. Examples such a lower absenteeism and higher productivity in offices, higher footfall in retail environments, and increased house values were presented, to demonstrate that the green building industry can use this compelling evidence to create wider drivers for sustainability.
The theme of housing was to the fore as Catriona announced the launched of the World GBC's 'guide to a healthier home and a healthier planet'. which had been officially launched at the COP24 conference in Katowice, Poland that morning. The guide is written for homeowners, presenting research and information about both the health and environmental hazards of common home features, as well as highlighting simple strategies to improve the quality of one's home. Information is focused around the three universal features of a healthy home: air quality, thermal and acoustic comfort and light. This information is equally valid for developers, architects and contractors and, can be translated into simple design advice. The World Green Building Council hopes that the information contained within will continue to raise awareness of the importance of housing for both human health and as a driver of climate change, and empower our global audience to demand more sustainable housing worldwide. The guide is available as a free download here: www.wgbc.org/news-media/heathier-homes-healthier-planet
