The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), an international trade association representing 4,500 contributing contractor firms, is one of six organizations related to the built environment collaborating to provide advanced indoor air quality (IAQ) design guidance for the industry.

The collaboration will develop a book and professional development course that will describe an integrated process for achieving improved IAQ in all elements of a building. The book is expected to be published in April 2009 and followed later in the year by the course, reveals the organization’s press release.

Other participating organizations are the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which have all recently formalized the collaboration through a memorandum of understanding.

“We are pleased to partner with these organizations. Because of these efforts SMACNA members will gain realistic best practices of design, construction, operations and maintenance to better serve their customers in achieving improved indoor air quality in their facilities”, SMACNA President Richard J. Cramer Sr. said.