Air conditioned offices ... pro's and con's, please.

Good - nice to be in on a day like today; temperature and humidity is fairly stable

Bad - can cause arguments whether its too cold or hot

 

The last couple of places I've worked have been large offices built around 10 to 15 years ago and both sets of air-con units were getting past their end of life. At the previous office they had to install stand alone units as the main ones in the roof failed. The simple answer would be to open the windows and let fresh air in, but we kept being told off not to do this. They said modern buildings don't have windows, they are 'smoke vents', and we were threatened with disiplinary action if we kept opening them. In the current office some people sit inside with their coats on all day - it is unpleasant being blasted with cold air all the time, plus it's dry - there are poor sickness rates amongst staff taking lots of time off with coughs and dry throats.

Personally I'd love to work in an office that had decent insulation rather than a tin roof and proper windows and adjustable vents. That's all we have at home and we are able to keep just right by opening the windows as necessary.

The biggest problem is people though! In a big office everyone has a different opinion on the most comfortable temp, some like it hot some cold so you'll never please everyone. Also with windows not many like to sit in a draught. The worst thing for me is people who choose to sit next to windows but insist on closing the blinds all day long, so the majority have make do with artificial light, this seems to cause more friction than the temp issues.

 

Air-con - awesome

Anyone that has worked in a large office in central london will want aircon otherwise it's just stifling. Optimum temp for productivity is 22/23degreesC so set the auto for that and remove all controls.

I should point out that the vast majority of buildings have utterly terrible aircon systems as they were retro-fitted as opposed to designed to have it. The more modern ones are a delight without forced draughts etc; the older ones are problematic shall we say.

Why are we discussing? @"M"

 

The glass they use for these new high risers is seriously high tech, for glass. Doesn't have too much bearing on the heating I don't think now