The Indoor Environmental Quality of UNESCO Listed Heritage Buildings, George Town, Penang

Abstract

George Town, as one of the port cities in the Malacca straits, has a few of heritage buildings that need to be conserved. Being listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO is challenging, since inappropriate conservation could jeopardize the status. One of the threats is from the building occupants themselves. Changes in the occupants’ behaviour due to their comfort may threaten the building well being affected by the people’s needs. These changes will affect their health dramatically. This paper studies on the quality of the indoor environment which includes the thermal comfort, illumination, noise and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), including the occupants’ satisfaction. The focus of this research is on the occupants’ satisfaction in their working environment, particularly in the government offices listed under the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Parameters for this assessment are adopted from the Green Building Index (GBI) by the Malaysia Green Building Confederation (MGBC) and Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality by Department of Occupational Safety and Health. It also employs the mixed methods research. The significant findings of this research noted that the IEQ level and the occupants are affected by the conditions of the thermal comfort, illumination and sound level, indoor air pollutants, application