Quality to house construction with the Healthy House certificate
11 December 2017
VTT Expert Services' Healthy House certificate aims at improved quality of construction. The certification means that the house has been built in compliance with stricter requirements than the standard building regulations. A certified house has, inter alia, a healthy, safe and comfortable indoor climate, and functional and durable structures and building technology solutions. The house is suited for its intended purpose and the users have been given guidance on the use and maintenance of the building.
In addition to detached houses and other residential buildings, the certificate can also be granted to office and commercial buildings as well as educational and day care centre buildings. It concerns the planning, constructions, introduction and quality assurance of the building as a whole.
The Healthy House certificate is a voluntary proof of compliance with applicable requirements granted by VTT Expert Services Oy. "It is no longer enough that a company blows its own trumpet. It needs an assessment of the quality of work given by an external party that is independent of the company's operations. The Healthy House certificate is such a proof of the quality of construction," says Mikko Saari, Senior Expert at VTT Expert Services Oy.
A Healthy House-certified building meets strict requirements
The requirements for a Healthy House certificate are based on research information on what are the risk factors in house construction and what should be avoided.
It sets comprehensive requirements for indoor climate, energy efficiency, purity of construction materials, functionality of building technology, heat and moisture performance properties of the structures, quality management and assurance during construction, and the introduction phase of the building.
"In practice, we pay attention to such issues as emissions from construction materials, ventilation, thermal losses, susceptibility of the structures to moulding, scheduling and water-and-moisture proofing during construction work, as well as user and maintenance instructions," Saari lists in summary.
This news was published by VTT Expert Services on 11 December 2017. Now VTT Expert Services is Eurofins Expert Services and part of the Eurofins Group.