ARM Environments Wins 'Safety, Health or Wellbeing Initiative of the Year' at H&V News Awards 2021

At this year's H&V News Awards, we are proud to say that we won Safety, Health or Wellbeing Initiative of the Year.

ARM Environments began as an initiative by Spire Building Services, to innovate targeted assessments of a building's risk of aerosol transmission through on-site testing. This is a departure from the current methodology, which deploys blanket IAQ improvement systems based on industry rules of thumb, not on specific requirements.

Since aerosol transmission inside poorly ventilated buildings is the biggest threat to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, testing aerosol transmission at both room-level, and via centralised HVAC is critical.

HVAC systems have been put into "limp-mode" to reduce perceived risk from re-circulation and cross-contamination from thermal wheels, and this is not sustainable.

Critically for the building services industry, the "Assess, Remediate, Maintain" method establishes whether there is an actual requirement for clean air technology and HVAC upgrades, and then demonstrates their efficacy post-installation. This avoids the energy inefficiencies and cost-drains caused by salespeople incentivised to put sales over necessity.

The judges at the H&V News Awards said the A.R.M initiative has the potential both to save energy and to provide better air quality and user comfort, with scope for application in a variety of environments.

The H&V News awards are an "annual celebration of excellence, forward thinking and the highest achievements across the building services industry."