Words: Helena Morgan

Many would choose to do things differently in the next pandemic.  Ashburner Francis senior mechanical engineer Clinton Walker is prioritising setting a better benchmark for living indoors – starting with more stringent measures around HVAC operation and maintenance.

“I hope we do better next time and I hope the IAQ movement is the catalyst to be more prepared and raise the bar for our standard of living indoors,” he says. 

Walker frequently encounters people who do not fully comprehend the grave implications of poor IAQ.  

“There’s this almost disconnect from reality,” he says. “People just believe that it’s generally good, whereas the statistics show that it’s not great, and we can do better.”

Walker emphasises the valuable contributions of facilities managers to IAQ management, noting their deep knowledge of the space – gained through facilitating and observing daily operations – goes beyond the engineering of the building, which is only the tip of the iceberg.  

“The engineering side of things is only maybe 40 percent of the picture; therefore, how the building operates and how people use the spaces is critical knowledge,” he says.

It’s common for people to think certain kinds of buildings and spaces will be safer than others, but this isn’t always the case. Although hospitals have high-quality HVAC systems, for example, but those systems can be home to nasty bacteria.

“We tend to think hospitals are safe, but there’s definitely a risk,” he says. 

He sympathises with those responsible for facility managing sites such as hospitals which have an overwhelming hierarchy of priorities. “It’s such a huge task to manage a facility like a hospital,” says Walker. “It’s not an easy job to do because you have maintenance budgets that you need to adhere to, but you also need to look after that quality component.”

Schools can be another IAQ hotspot, with classrooms often suffering from poor ventilation. “The air quality reached dangerous levels in about 25 minutes,” he says. “For kids in primary school that are sitting in a classroom all day, I just feel that we’re not really serving them well.”

Walker admits although bigger facilities carry a bigger budget and, therefore, generally respectable ventilation guidelines, irresponsible maintenance can slip through the cracks. 

“There tends to be more infrastructure in the HVAC system at big facilities and therefore more capability,” says Walker. “But a loophole is that they are often under-maintained because of a lack of accountability from maintenance staff.”

Sick buildings 

Walker says many heritage-listed buildings in Toowoomba – where he is based – are also poorly ventilated.

“There are a number of buildings around town that we classify as sick buildings – you walk in there and there’s kind of a dank smell,” he says.

“You can see water stains on the ceiling, the floor or walls and that means there’s a high risk of mould.”

While it is challenging to incorporate HVAC into a heritage building, Walker says it is not “impossible”.

“We’ve had success stories with a number of buildings in Toowoomba,” he says. “We work with heritage architects and find out how best to use the building, but it’s definitely high risk as those older buildings are not to the design specs of what we have to adhere to today. They’re more vulnerable.”

Walker says chilled water systems are generally the preferred HVAC system for heritage buildings, as the indoor humidity can be manipulated and controlled.

“We can control the humidity inside, which is really important, and we tend to be able to run high-quality filters as well,” he says. “Whereas split systems tend not to handle high filtration well, so the ones we’ve done those upgrades to have improved markedly.”

Don’t set-and-forget

Walker identifies a ‘set-and-forget’ approach to IAQ maintenance as “hazardous” and implores facilities managers to consider enlisting the services of consultants to ascertain the implications of hasty choices, rather than opting for the cheapest maintenance option. 

“A consultant can offer advice on the tenders and we can bring the pricing data in with inclusions  and exclusions, and then weight the tender offers on criteria that have been approved by the client,” he says.

Walker wants to see facilities adopt a more rigorous maintenance process, encompassing reporting, proofing and documentation, as opposed to racing to the finish line. Transparent communication should be upheld, whether cleaning ducts or overseeing chilled water management. 

“For duct cleaners, they should take photos of everything they clean before and after so you can see the progress and they’d have a plan layout that would highlight where it’s being done,” he says. 

Walker reiterates the importance of collaboration between a facility manager and services contractor to avoid absolving responsibility to the maintenance contractor. 

“A lot of the time we just leave it up to the maintenance contractor to solve problems but I think a collaborative approach is required, where our facility managers are interfacing with the maintenance team on site and providing feedback to their superior.”

Walker says the rapid uptake of personal hygiene habits during the pandemic produced a powerful paradigm shift, as people realised the magnitude of exercising poor hygiene in public spaces. Walker is inspired by the subsequent, vast multidisciplinary efforts towards IAQ.

“Scientists, people from building remediation, contractors, design consultants, and legislators are all working together – I think that’s really good, as that’s probably where we failed the most in the last pandemic,” he says.

Walker labels single-discipline solutions as inflexible and limited.

“There are so many perspectives, and we’re going to get a very well-rounded solution if we use them, rather than just a viewpoint from one industry or one discipline.”