19 Aug 2022
By Michelle Glancy, Marketing & Brand Executive at DARe-me Consulting Engineers
Public health engineering focuses on creating a clean and healthy environment within a building. Public health engineers solve issues relating to water supply, drainage and sanitation while ensuring a building complies with regulations.
What is public health engineering?
Public health engineers seek to resolve matters relating to public health, waste management, and environmental health. They are concerned with the water systems, firefighting systems and sanitation of a building.
A building should not only be comfortable, but hygienic and safe. Engineers are responsible for creating and maintaining buildings where inhabitants have clean air and water to prevent anyone becoming unwell.
Not only is it vital to have high-quality systems in place within the healthcare and hospitality sectors, but also in a whole host of industries including residential, industrial, commercial, and more.
What does it involve?
Public health engineering is primarily concerned with:
Different buildings will require different systems depending on their primary purpose.
Why is it important?
Buildings must comply with regulations and standards. For example, a building must meet the regulations set out by BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). These are concerned with creating a clean and healthy environment while making buildings more sustainable.
Having sustainable water management systems (such as solar water heating) in place can result in energy and water savings, limit carbon emissions, and reduce costs.
The health of a building’s inhabitants is the top priority within public health engineering. Systems in place must be optimally designed to be sustainable, comfortable and healthy.
