Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POE) are becoming ever more important in helping to develop better buildings.
Performance feedback through post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is an incredibly powerful tool for bringing about improvements in building design and operation. The idea was originally developed over 40 years ago. The process consists of gathering information from a new development a year after construction has been completed and the building has been occupied. This is done through various methods, from surveys of office staff, building residents and facilities staff, to on-site analysis and observation of the building.
The POE helps to determine why and where buildings fail to deliver on client performance expectations. These issues could, for example, include poor performance in terms of maintenance and operation costs, flexibility of use and sustainability.
Conducting a Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) will help to achieve a BREEAM credit in aftercare.
The POE process gives designers feedback on what designs work well. These designs can then be repeated with more confidence that they will be successful. Likewise, it is just as important to get feedback on design errors and deficiencies in design, so that they are not replicated in future projects.
“Architects and other built environment professionals, industry bodies and increasingly clients are pushing forward regular building evaluations via POEs as they can see the benefits better evidence-based decision-making offers to their organisational goals. POE is already mandated on all centrally-funded projects under the UK governments soft landings policy” 1
POE can add value in tangible ways such as reduced operational costs and reduced environmental impact, and can also add value in other less tangible ways such as well-being, atmosphere and community.
“Designers seldom get feedback and only notice problems when asked to investigate a failure” 2
AS POEs become more routine, the findings and benchmarks from previous POEs can be used to help shape design and client expectations.
Short term benefits:
· Identifying and finding solutions to problems in buildings.
· Response to user needs.
· Improving of space utilisation based on the feedback from use.
· Informed decision making
Long term benefits of POE:
· Long-term improvements in building performance.
· Improvement in design quality.
· Strategic review.
Overall Advantages of a POE:
· POE will give an overview of how well a building performing.
· How the buildings performance relates to the original design intents.
· And how well does it compare to similar buildings and benchmarks.
· How a building can be improved.
Contact us for more information on our POE services.
References:
1. Post Occupancy Evaluations- RIBA September 2017
2. A.Blyth, CRISP Commission 02