Mission

The built environment and the systems used to monitor and manage it are fragmented and increasingly complex. Yet indoor air quality (IAQ) can be significantly poorer than outdoor air quality, with implications for residents’ health and wellbeing, building performance and asset value, NHS costs, the UK’s net-zero ambitions, and the wider economy.

Despite growing awareness of these impacts—and the existence of established standards and policy frameworks for outdoor air quality—there is currently no equivalent, comprehensive standard or policy framework for residential indoor air quality.

We have established mechanisms for assessing the energy performance of our homes, such as the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), with the Home Energy Model (HEM) set to play an increasingly important role. So why is there no equivalent framework for the quality of the air we breathe indoors?

ACT-Now! seeks to address this gap. In collaboration with the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB), the initiative aims to bring together the evidence, expertise and stakeholder engagement needed to establish a robust foundation for action and help shape a coherent policy and standards framework for residential indoor air quality.

The objective is clear: to move from fragmented approaches to a consistent, evidence-based framework that places healthy indoor air at the heart of better homes and a healthier, more sustainable built environment.