Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) plays a critical role in healthcare facilities, where patients, staff, and visitors may spend long periods indoors under vulnerable conditions.
Yet, compared with other building types, IEQ in healthcare settings remains under-studied. Strict hygiene, safety, and operational constraints have limited large-scale monitoring efforts, leaving important knowledge gaps – particularly as climate change intensifies heatwaves, cold spells, and air pollution episodes.
Within the MOUNTADAPT project, Task 3.3 led by the Scientific and Technical Centre for Building (CSTB) addresses these gaps by investigating how resilient healthcare indoor environments are to climatic stressors. The focus is on mountain regions, where extreme weather and seasonal variability pose specific challenges.
IEQ monitoring is being carried out in five healthcare buildings across three demonstration sites: Grenoble (France), Selnica ob Dravi (Slovenia), and Alba Iulia (Romania). The overall objective is twofold: to establish a robust monitoring procedure adapted to healthcare facilities that can be replicated in future projects, and to generate preliminary data to inform climate-adaptation strategies for healthcare buildings.
A first monitoring campaign took place during the summer of 2025. Ten key parameters were continuously measured at 10-minute intervals using integrated sensors installed within the buildings. These parameters included air temperature and relative humidity, as well as concentrations of carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and airborne particles (PM1, PM2.5, and PM10). Together, they provide a comprehensive picture of thermal comfort and indoor air quality.
Preliminary results from the summer campaign already offer valuable insights. During heatwaves, indoor temperature fluctuations were greater than during non-heatwave periods, even though all monitored buildings were equipped with air-conditioning systems. This highlights potential limits in existing cooling strategies under extreme heat. In contrast, indoor concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter remained relatively stable during heatwaves. However, significant variations were observed in carbon dioxide and VOC levels, suggesting that occupancy patterns may have a stronger influence on these parameters than outdoor and indoor temperatures.
A second monitoring campaign is underway during the winter of 2025–2026. This phase will focus on indoor resilience to cold waves and outdoor pollution episodes, including those linked to wood-burning heating systems. Together, the two campaigns will help identify the most critical IEQ parameters to prioritise in climate-resilient healthcare design, thereby supporting healthier, safer indoor environments in a changing climate.
