Mishcon de Reya contacted Better Indoors in 2020 regarding the REME HALO™ technology for their Africa House headquarters in Kingsway, WC2. This followed introductory contact by Better Indoors to Mishcon's facilities team and their FM Imtech Inviron who learned of the HALO-LED™ installation project at the Lloyds Building through Jaguar Building Services. Mishcon were impressed by the *Zero Ozone compliant REME HALO™ units that deliver Active Air Purification after seeing our video, a process that goes beyond ventilation, filtration and GUV. They were keen to achieve enhanced health and safety protections including point of emission elimination of viruses including SARS-CoV-2 to create the safest possible workplace environment for staff and customers to return to post COVID.
Click here to see REME Commercial video
Better Indoors provided consultancy for the REME HALO™ specification and precise installation locations. Better Indoors also performed the installation project which comprised 26 REME HALO™ units, some in outdoor locations and had to be done out-of-hours and over a weekend. Electrical and BMS connectivity was performed by Imtech Inviron. The installation project took 4 days and was performed during January 2021. To date (June 2022) there has not been a single failure or any other problem or issue with any of the 26 devices supplied to Mishcon.
Following the installation Mishcon performed a comprehensive ATP swabbing analysis over 32 random highly challenging locations including keyboards, door handles, stairway handrails across all floors at Africa House over 7 weeks. At the time the building was operating at 30% capacity so approx 300 people were in attendance every day. The results showed an average reduction versus control of 48.41% over the duration of the test thus proving the active process throughout the entire building. Further the REME HALO™ process did not require evacuation or other disruptions and its Zero Ozone validation proved it perfectly safe to use with people present.
The technology inside HALO-LED™ was originally developed in the late 1990s by US environmental innovator and manufacturer RGF Environmental and is probably the most scrutinised and validated for safety and efficacy of all air purification technologies available today. All third party testing has been performed using challenging protocols created by independent experts in accredited laboratories and universities or state appointed testing bodies including Intertek plc, the world's largest and a FTSE-100 listed global operation. Some validation tests have attracted interest from US government bodies over the years including the Sneeze Test in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 by the Dept of Homeland Security that demonstrated instant 99% deactivation of sneezed microbials within a 3 foot radius of the infected person and more recently the SARS-CoV-2 test protocols developed with Innovative Bioanalysis by EPA and CDC that involved continuously nebulised virus into a real world sized 1,280 ft3 ventilated chamber that produced 99+% reductions versus control in all parts of the chamber in the air and on surfaces.
Click here to see Test Results.
Click here to download the Test Results.
* Zero Ozone compliance is term used to describe the UL-2998 test protocol developed by Underwriters Laboratories that measures ozone emissions at the device to 5 parts per billion which is similar the background indoor ozone concentrations (outdoor levels are approx 10 times higher). Products that pass this test produce no more ozone than is always being breathed by humans indoors so by definition are safe. It should be noted the UK EH/40 Workplace Exposure Limit for ozone is inexplicably 40 times higher than this threshold at 200 parts per billion which is why we always recommend our customers should look for UL-2998 compliance for any air cleaning process including filtration and GUV. Very few if any products sold on the UK market meet UL-2998 meaning users are exposed to higher levels of ozone than normal indoor air which can have serious health consequences.
Weston House Project
Mishcon de Reya also occupies Weston House which is in close proximity to Africa House. This is a multi tenanted building where Mishcon occupies a number of floors and not the entire building and because of this Mishcon were not able to treat the air at the main AHUs as we did at Africa House nor were they able to access the HVAC duct infrastructure on their floors (due to their tenancy agreement). Under these limiting circumstances Better Indoors had to specify 41 standalone HALO ROVE™ devices which, like its REME ION™ counterpart, are designed for buildings without centralised HVAC systems that rely on natural ventilation and contain their own air circulation capability. The installation project was performed by Better Indoors in June 2021 and took 7 cumulative days over 2 weeks as it could only be performed out of hours. The units were mounted on the ceilings and were powered by isolated fused spurs from suitable earth/capacity safe sources. To date (June 2022) there has not been a single failure or any other problem or issue with any of the 41 devices supplied to Mishcon.
