A Healthier Learning Experience: How Fellowes Array™ Elevates Campus IAQ

Before the pandemic, 59% of parents did not consider campus air quality. Campus cleanliness and indoor air quality now rank in the top three most important factors for college or university selection, behind cost and quality of education.*

Benefits of healthy air quality on campus: 

• Improves student/faculty/staff perceptions of facilities
• Creates a more health-focused environment
• Reduces absenteeism
• Improves productivity
• Reduces common complaints such as odors

 Adapting To Evolving Education Facilities Expectations

Higher education has never been more dynamic, and it’s imperative that colleges and universities adapt to the evolving education facilities’ expectations. Mounting financial pressures created by lower enrollments and greater budgetary scrutiny are fundamentally changing how institutions manage and maintain their campuses. These changing expectations were significantly heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, when students, parents, and faculty became acutely aware of the importance of air quality to human health and wellness.

Colleges and universities are currently juggling various priorities, each with its own financial implications. These include improving community health and wellness, addressing indoor air quality based on scientific evidence, all while striving to preserve the distinctive college experience that attracts many students to higher education. In this new education economy, colleges and universities will need to meet stakeholder and student expectations of clean indoor air at all times while also managing their bottom line. Fellowes® Array™, the most advanced networked air quality system, makes it possible. 

Components of an Impactful IAQ Plan for Higher Education 

As colleges and universities seek to align their organizations around key goals of a modern IAQ plan, the following standards should be implemented to  meet building occupants’ needs:

• Incorporate air purification devices with H13 True HEPA and active carbon filtration across all campus buildings and shared indoor spaces.
• Monitor IAQ with real-time data and share that information with building occupants.
• Achieve recently updated ASHRAE code adherence, which requires a minimum of five equivalent air changes per hour in indoor spaces.
• Retrofit air quality systems/HVAC to older buildings and/or buildings with unique architecture.

The first system of its kind, Fellowes Array™ uses fully networked products that work together to provide an intuitive, coordinated response to most air quality issues, with a variety of installation options, including suspended ceiling, recessed ceiling, wall and stand units, linked together for every building on campus. Designed for seamless, scalable integration and H13 True HEPA filtration, Array™ allows colleges and universities to deliver healthy air to their communities, reduce operating expenses, and proactively evolve their air monitoring strategy alongside their institution. 

Array’s networked air purifiers, sensors, and monitors track the air quality across all spaces and automatically adjust units to ramp up or down to address any change in contaminants. This continuous environmental monitoring allows Array™ to provide effective air purification and energy savings even in areas with dynamic occupancy, such as classrooms or lecture halls. All air quality data and purification performance metrics across the network are fed into a centralized dashboard, so building operators can see a full, precise picture of their building’s exact air quality space-by-space. The Fellowes Array™ Viewpoint provides continuous environmental monitoring allowing effective air purification and energy savings even in areas with dynamic occupancy, such as classrooms or lecture halls. A Community Dashboard shares these valuable insights with occupants. Now, even large campuses with multiple buildings can have total control over air quality like never before.

Fellowes Array as a Solution for Campuses

Fellowes designed Array™ with higher education facilities and buildings in mind. Many colleges and universities are comprised of buildings of various ages and building material types, spread across expanding campuses. There’s also an extensive range of spaces and uses from large lecture halls to smaller classrooms, dorms and common areas. This makes higher education spaces more vulnerable to a range of contaminants. Viruses, bacteria, allergens, smoke, and odors are common, demonstrating the need for robust air filtration systems to ensure the health and well-being of students and staff wherever they may gather.

Fellowes is pioneering a new chapter in indoor air quality management with Array™. We understand your need for an advanced networked air quality system that can work across a single campus or network of campuses. We’ve been working on innovations in IAQ management for the last 15 years, making us a partner you can trust. We invite you to visit innovation.fellowes.com/us/HigherEd to request a free, no obligation, indoor air quality audit of your campus.

*https://www.facilitiesnet.com/iaq/tip/Campus-IAQ-Ranks-High-Among-Prospective-College-Students-Parents--48621 August 30, 2021; https://www.us.jll.com/en/newsroom/JLL-Higher-Education-Survey

*Gordian (2022). State of Facilities in Higher Education.https://www.gordian.com/uploads/2022/03/2022-State-of-Facilities-Report.pdf

*U.S. Energy Information Administration (2023). Use of Energy Explained.https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/commercial-buildings.php

*The Lancet COVID-19 Commission (2021). Designing infectious disease resilience into school buildings through improvements to ventilation and air cleaning.https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ef3652ab722df11fcb2ba5d/t/60a3d1251fcec67243e91119/1621348646314/Safe+Work+TF+Desigining+infectious+disease+resilience+April+2021.pdf