First office with a certified Indoor Climate Label

Tuesday 14 June 2022 – In Gouda, DWA’s office building has become the first in the Netherlands to be awarded a certified Indoor Climate Label. The refurbished office building was immediately awarded the highest possible rating: Indoor Climate Label A ‘very good’. With this new label, both building owners and employers can demonstrate that the workplace is healthy and comfortable.

The Indoor Climate Label standards are assessed on the basis of four elements from the Healthy Offices Specification: air, light, climate and noise. The PvE Healthy Offices is a guide to the development and refurbishment of offices that must not only be energy-efficient, but also healthy and comfortable. Three levels of ambition have been set out for the four components. Class C indicates ‘satisfactory’, Class B means ‘good’ and the highest rating is Class A, which is ‘very good’.

“Using this independent methodology,” explains Remi Hompe, director at Indoor Climate in the Netherlands, “we ensure that the state of a building’s indoor climate is clear at a glance. As an owner, you should be able to say ‘I want a Class A building’ and be confident that the pre-defined performance requirements will be met. That is why assurance and monitoring are an important part of the label.”

Smart Sensor

To award an Indoor Climate Label, an on-site inspection is carried out, surveys are conducted and indoor climate data is collected. To obtain the final label, climate data is collected over the course of a year using a standard measurement kit or data from a Smart Sensor network. Not only are temperature, humidity and CO₂ measured, but particulate matter has also been added to the data collection.

“As our office in Gouda was already equipped with a Smart Sensor network,” says Wilfred van der Plas, Smart Buildings expert (DWA), “we had a huge head start. This enabled us to make all the data available quickly and easily for the Indoor Climate Label. For the relevant scenarios, we were able to use wireless sensor solutions to provide the input required for the Indoor Climate Label. For us, it doesn’t stop at obtaining the Indoor Climate Label; by using our platform, we have real-time insight into the building’s indoor climate and energy performance.”

“During the refurbishment of our office in Gouda,” says Jaap Dijkgraaf, managing director at DWA, “we naturally paid close attention to health and comfort. It is incredibly inspiring for us that our results have been assessed and evaluated, and awarded the Indoor Climate Label A ‘very good’. Once again, we have demonstrated that, with craftsmanship, creativity and perseverance, high standards can be achieved even in renovation projects.”

Organisations that are awarded the Indoor Climate Label are included in a database of buildings that have been proven to be healthy. The label was developed on the basis of Indoor Climate Technology Knowledge Centre.