A Quality Assurance System for Indoor Environment and Energy Use

To achieve the intended results of building, managing and using a property requires knowledge,continuity and communication, which can be assured by a dynamic and flexible quality assurance(QA) system. Such a system, intended to ensure high-quality indoor environmental conditions, hasbeen developed and successfully applied over the last ten years. However, although clients have beenvery satisfied with the QA system and its results, the pressure for energy efficiency improvement hasincreased. Concentration solely on either good indoor environment or energy efficiency might causemutual adverse effects, and it is important to avoid this. Specialist researchers, property owners,builders and building managers have therefore together developed the existing QA system so that itnow also includes consideration of energy use. The new QA rules have now been agreed by arepresentative committee consisting of private and municipality property owners, and have beentested in a school building in the spring of 2006. The main target group of the end results is theoccupants. It means a lot to know, that the house one should live in or in other ways use, has ahealthy indoor environment with minimal use of energy.