Defeat (Airconditioning) Sexism in the Office!

Most modern offices are still designed based on comfort standards from the 1960s catering to a 'typical' 40 year-old man, a recent study has found.

Dr Boris Kingma from Maastricht University Medical Centre says most climate control systems and building standards don't allow for the fact that women and older workers can have a 'resting metabolic rate' of up to 30% lower. This results in a greater likelihood of feeling chilly when offices are artificially heated or cooled.

Appearing on BBC radio, Senior Partner at Max Fordham, Dr Neil Smith said the key to good office design was the ability to tailor thermal conditions to individual needs. 'We want to give people more control over the environment they work in,' he explains. 'We encourage, in the buildings we design, some form of user control or user adaptability.'

Smith noted that the ability to adjust the temperature via a dial on a wall, or by opening a window, or adjusting a window blind, all help to improve individual comfort. Where that kind of control is not possible, in a large open-plan office with a large floorplate for example, Smith said it was important to ensure the space can be 'zoned' to greater comfort and better energy use.

'Zoning buildings is always going to be more energy frugal than keeping the temperature of the whole building the same,' Smith noted. 'Most people will be happier being slightly warmer and following the seasons outside than being the same temperature all-year-round.'

And it's not just the occupants who benefit from greater zoning of office spaces. 'It makes sense for the building owners to be able to vary temperatures from one area to the next so they're not wasting energy by trying to have a single temperature that fits all,' Smith observed. 'If you can have some form of natural ventilation, or mixed-mode ventilation (you) can make the energy bills for the operators lower and improve the wellbeing of the users. It's these kinds of techniques that we are looking to implement in modern building design to both benefit energy (consumption) and user health and well-being.'

The BBC World Service audio can be heard here. Track to the 17.40 minute mark to hear this four-minute story. You can download the radio script here.