The quality of office indoor environments is considered to consist of those factors that impact
occupants according to their health and well-being and (by consequence) their productivity.
Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) can be characterized by four indicators:
• Indoor air quality indicators
• Thermal comfort indicators
• Lighting indicators
• Noise indicators.
Within each indicator, there are specific metrics that can be utilized in determining an
acceptable quality of an indoor environment based on existing knowledge and best practice.
Examples of these metrics are: indoor air levels of pollutants or odorants; operative
temperature and its control; radiant asymmetry; task lighting; glare; ambient noise. The way
in which these metrics impact occupants is not fully understood, especially when multiple
metrics may interact in their impacts. While the potential cost of lost productivity from poor
IEQ has been estimated to exceed building operation costs, the level of impact and the
relative significance of the above four indicators are largely unknown. However, they are key
factors in the sustainable operation or refurbishment of office buildings.
This paper presents a methodology for assessing indoor environment quality (IEQ) in office
buildings, and indicators with related metrics for high performance and occupant comfort.
These are intended for integration into the specification of sustainable office buildings as
key factors to ensure a high degree of occupant habitability, without this being impaired by
other sustainability factors.
The assessment methodology was applied in a case study on IEQ in Australia’s first ‘six star’
sustainable office building, Council House 2 (CH2), located in the centre of Melbourne. The
CH2 building was designed and built with specific focus on sustainability and the provision of
a high quality indoor environment for occupants. Actual IEQ performance was assessed in
this study by field assessment after construction and occupancy. For comparison, the
methodology was applied to a 30 year old conventional building adjacent to CH2 which
housed the same or similar occupants and activities. The impact of IEQ on occupant
productivity will be reported in a separate future pape