A UK occupier has become the first recipient of an award for consistent clean air. 

Enra Specialist Finance is the first organisation to achieve the new AirScore 365 award, from air quality certification company AirRated. 

The award reflects Enra’s commitment to continuous indoor air quality monitoring of their workspace within The Hyde, an office building in Watford, and the consistent delivery of a healthy, comfortable and productive working environment over a 12 month period.

Building owner Legal & General Investment Management participates in AirRated benchmarking for 1.25 million sq ft of its UK commercial office space.

Research commissioned by AirRated at the end of 2022 suggests 81% of employees believe that indoor air quality monitoring should be mandatory for all office buildings, while only 21% of UK organisations are committed to indoor air quality monitoring in their buildings.

AirRated uses sensor technology to monitor five key parameters for indoor air quality: humidity, temperature, PM2.5 (fine particles), volatile organic compounds and carbon dioxide.

One Station Hill has been rated as the UK’s best design for air quality. 

The Reading office development achieved an AirScore D&O (Design & Operation) Platinum rating, with the highest score certification company AirRated has awarded. 

AirScore D&O is AirRated’s review of the proposed design and operation of a building’s HVAC system. Features in One Station Hill’s design include high ventilation rates, high-efficiency particulate filters and active carbon filters.

The office building, due for completion in 2024, is part of the wider Station Hill development, a £750 million ($924 million) mixed-use regeneration scheme by Lincoln MGT, a jv between developer Lincoln Property Company Europe and real estate investment manager MGT Investment Management.

Francesca Brady, CEO at AirRated, said: “It is only in the past couple of years that indoor air quality has been truly recognised as a fundamental factor in the built environment. Our latest research suggested that over 70% of people would have their decision to come into the office positively influenced by a healthy building certification that offered transparency regarding the health of their working environment.”