Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): Results of a survey in office buildingsin Iran

The Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) is an importantdeterminant in the comfort and hence productivity of workers in office buildings, and a number of studieshave been undertaken in the Western world which shows this. This paper explores the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in six office buildings in Tehran (Iran) with particular attention to thermal comfort. The study is based around a questionnaire survey of the occupants in the Case Study Offices.The results from the study indicate that in the buildingssurveyed 25% of the respondents were thermally comfortable in their workspace in winter, and 22% in summer. The survey also reveals that the respondents in open-plan office cubicles with high or low partitions were most satisfied with their environment, compared to workers in fully open-plan offices and cellular offices.They also reported an enhanced perceived productivityin comparison with other workspaces. The overall conclusion was that there is considerable scope from improving the thermal condition as well as other aspects of IEQ.