Supporting the steps to sustainable, healthier homes and schools
Net Zero targets and the cost of living are driving people to cut energy costs for homes, schools, and workplaces, but how do we avoid harms to health and wellbeing in the process?
Researchers Dr Douglas Booker and Professor Cath Noakes from the School of Civil Engineering are participating in three new major projects that aim to address key aspects of this vital question.
HESTIA
The HESTIA network, led by Dr Booker from the School of Civil Engineering and funded by the EPSRC, aims to examine the nexus of Net Zero technologies, health and wellbeing, and social justice in home environments. It is a collaboration between the University of Leeds, the University of Birmingham, the University of Edinburgh, King’s College London, Oxford Brookes University, University College London, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and the University of York.
The UK’s housing stock is responsible for around 20% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions, so retrofitting is essential to meet Net Zero targets. Homes are also significant social determinants of health and drivers of health inequalities. More energy-efficient homes can be warmer, but if ventilation is inadequate, there can be significant unintended consequences that affect physical and mental health and health inequalities.
There are many energy-saving technologies targeted at homes, from complete retrofits with new insulation and ventilation, through to smart heating controls and consumer technologies such as air cleaners and dehumidifiers. However, it is a significant challenge to select the right technologies and provide everyone access to practical solutions.
The HESTIA network will bring together interdisciplinary expertise to co-develop a new health-equity centred engineering approach to home design and retrofit.
Dr Booker said: “We want to explore how we can maximise human and environmental co-benefits together and at the same time minimise inequalities. The network will nurture research capability in this area, supporting transdisciplinary pilot projects and connecting with and driving long-term studies.”
NIHR Healthy Homes study
Alongside HESTIA, both Douglas and Cath are part of a major NIHR Healthy Homes study led by Bradford Institute for Health Research that explicitly measures the impacts of retrofit on indoor environments and health outcomes in homes.
The project will monitor more than 400 social rented homes before and after major retrofit work, and collect residents’ health data to develop robust evidence on the health and environmental consequences of retrofitting.
CHILI Hub
In schools, Dr Booker and Professor Noakes are part of the CHILI Hub, which addresses many of the same challenges but in school environments. Schools and nurseries produce about 15% of the carbon emissions from the UK’s public buildings, and children and young people also spend up to 6 hours a day in school, most of which is indoors. CHILI is a five-year MRC/NIHR programme led by UCL with six other partners, including the University of Leeds.
Together with colleagues Professor Mark Mon-Williams and Dr Chris Brown in the School of Psychology, the Leeds team will lead efforts to identify the impact of interventions, such as air-cleaning devices, on indoor air quality and pupil health, and to understand the practical implications of placing interventions in school classrooms.
Across the whole project, the team hopes to produce new understanding through connecting data on school environments and health at scale.
Professor Noakes said: “Evidence from during the pandemic showed us that school environments were often poorly ventilated and overcrowded. As we address Net Zero and improve school environments for energy efficiency, it is imperative that at the same time, we create healthy learning spaces that enable all children to thrive.”
