Moisture damage and unhealthy buildings are a permanently present problem. However there is no reason why people should suffer illness due to poor indoor air quality. Nowadays there is an excellent fund of knowledge about unhealthy buildings, and the problems can often be solved without the need to evacuate residents or to empty an entire workplace. This is the view of the Carl Bro company Sycon Barab, a well-known environmental consultancy which since the mid-1980s has offered expertise on the indoor environment and associated damage to buildings.  "Buildings are always subject to some damage or other. Certain things cause health problems, others don't. What is important in making premises healthy is to find precisely those faults that give rise to health problems", says the company's Managing Director, Erik Winqvist."So as to quickly find the reasons and take the necessary measures it's important to have a good knowledge of construction techniques and a well-defined investigation strategy", stresses Erik Winqvist.

"It's not hard to find a lot of doubtful substances among the materials used for construction. Starting a survey by taking samples all over the place, without having first examined and analysed the connection between the building and the symptoms, and preparing a survey strategy, usually ends up very expensive for the property owner. Methods that don't follow logic or are not based on knowledge of construction techniques often lead to unnecessary intervention and costly rebuilding."
For over twenty years Sycon Barab has been working on preventing and investigating the unhealthy building problem. In Sweden the company's consultants carry out about 1 000 surveys each year, using a method based on step-by-step and systematic examination and analysis of the indoor environment. This is by now a well-proven approach, which has been accepted as a set of international guidelines by ISIAQ, The International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate.
The first step in the method is to determine whether there actually is a connection between the symptoms and the building. All available facts concerning damage, previous surveys, ventilation checks and the history of the premises are assembled, along with information from people on the site. After this follows a detailed examination of the site, sample-taking and laboratory analyses.
"Interviews and questionnaires are important. Users are the people who know best how they feel, what it smells like and whether a building is too hot or too cold. In our experience people are very honest when describing their impressions and it is important to take their worries seriously," says Kjell Andersson, senior physician at the Örebro University Hospital Clinic of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He compares this approach with that used by a doctor to treat a patient who is complaining of uncomfortable chest pains.
"One of the first steps is to perform an ECG on the patient to provide a basis from which to decide what further examination is needed. In this case a building is concerned. First you do an ECG on the property. Then you decide how to plan the next stage of the work."
"In most cases unhealthy buildings involve multiple, complex problems. Not all mould is caused by poor indoor air quality, and far from all problems in an indoor environment are attributable to mould. The premises may have too high a temperature, insufficient ventilation or PVC sheeting may have been laid on a base that is too damp," recounts Tom Follin of Sycon Barab.
Incorrect cleaning methods are for example often the reason why linoleum gives off a sour and musty odour, that can give rise to unhealthy building symptoms.
Sycon Barab will soon be opening an international development centre for unhealthy building investigations.
"We want to help property owners in the rest of Europe and in North America to have better buildings, both by utilising current knowledge and by developing new knowledge about unhealthy buildings," continues Tom Follin, who will lead the development work.
"With this centre we will be able to inform people that it is possible to rectify matters in an acceptable and cost-effective way, while also being able to deal with complex properties that have problems. Property owners will not need to keep going from one more or less capable consultant to another. We will have collected in one place all the necessary expertise."

Sycon Barab is a company in the Swedish Sycon Group, which is owned by the international consultancy Carl Bro.



For more information, please contact:
Erik Winqvist, Managing Director
Sycon Barab
Sjökvarnsbacken 20
SE-131 31 NACKA, Sweden
Tel. +46 8 644 80 67
Mobile: +46 70 877 66 67
E-mail: erik.winqvist@barab.se
Web site: www.barab.se

Tom Follin BSc, International Manager,
Sycon Barab
Propellervägen 6A
SE-183 62 Täby, Sweden
Mobile: +46 708 418 155
E-mail: tom.follin@barab.se

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