Research collaboration between SBE and FHML: Do sustainable buildings contribute to our health and productivity?
The Sustainable UM 2030 programme supports collaborative research between faculties to address the multidisciplinary nature of sustainability challenges that we are facing. The university devotes its efforts to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) including Good health and well-being (SDG 3) and Education (SDG 4). Therefore, one focus area will be on researching the impact of built environments on human health, well-being and productivity. The investments undertaken in rebuilding the former Tapijnkazerne into an innovative learning space and registering it for the WELL Building standard provides an excellent living lab opportunity within UM.
In the spirit of the university’s aspiration to do excellent multidisciplinary research, the Real Estate Finance group of the SBE faculty and the Thermophysiology and Metabolism research group of the FHML faculty have joined forces. The team consists of Piet Eichholtz, Nils Kok and Steffen Kuenn from SBE, as well as Wouter van Marken-Lichtenbelt, Guy Plasqui and Rick Kramer from FHML. In September 2020, the PhD study of Stefan Flagner has officially started to investigate if the high-quality renovation of the Tapijnkazerne building has resulted in a top-notch indoor environment and indeed results in improved productivity (including learning outcomes), health, and well-being. Connected to this, the overall aim is to study how high-quality renovations like Tapijn positively impact the financial value of real estate, which in turn may be a driver for accelerating building renovations.
