A preliminary study on post-occupancy evaluation of four office buildings in the UK based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process

ABSTRACT

There is a lack of a systematic decision-making criterion to select appropriate indicators for Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) analysis due to the fact that significant levels of various POE determinants are indeterminate. The present work aims to identify the degree of importance of a set of POE determinants based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). A case study of POE for four office buildings in the UK has been conducted using the AHP to ascertain the significance levels of three main factors identified, namely, Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ), Occupants’ Performance (OP) and Workplace Quality (WQ) as well as three groups of sub-factors affiliated to the main factors based on questionnaire surveys of the building occupants. The results show that the priority factors of the three main evaluation metrics, IEQ, OP, WQ are 0.595, 0.183 and 0.222, respectively, indicating that of these three factors the IEQ is the paramount factor in relation to the POE level of the office buildings. Moreover, the global priorities of all sub-factors linked to the main factors are obtained, providing a strategy reference of choosing indicators as per the priorities for a continuing POE in the further survey and measurement.

KEYWORDS:

• Office evaluation
• post occupancy evaluation
• indoor environment quality
• occupants feedback
• Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Gary Middlehurst is an EngD candidate at the University of Reading and an engineer at SPIE company. His research interest is concerned on the subject matter of physiological and psychological effects of indoor environmental quality factors in determining a sustainable approach to future commercial office design and operation.

Runming Yao is a Professor at the School of the Built Environment, University of Reading. Her research interests are in the area of building and urban sustainability specialised in energy and environment with particular focus in the UK and China context. She has published more than 130 papers since 2000. More information about her is available in the link: http://www.reading.ac.uk/CME/about/staff/r-yao.aspx.

Lai Jiang got his PhD degree at the University of Reading is now a KTP Associate - Data Analyst/Developer at the Knowledge Transfer Centre in the University. He has published some papers such as Building and Environment 99 (2016) 98-106, Applied Energy 205 (2017) 440-452, etc.

Jie Deng is a Research and Impact Fellow in Building Performance at the School of the Built Environment, University of Reading. His interest covers low carbon and sustainable technologies for buildings and has published more than 20 papers in related areas.

Derek Clements-Croome is a Professor at the School of the Built Environment, University of Reading. His interest involves Intelligent Buildings and Cities; health and well-being. More information about him is available in the link: http://www.reading.ac.uk/cme/about/staff/d-j-clements∼croome.aspx.

George Adams is the UK Engineering Director of SPIE, the independent European leader in electrical and mechanical engineering and HVAC services, energy and communication systems. His personal website is https://www.spieuk.com/en/resource-hub/news-article/spies-george-adams-appointed-lead-construction-ind/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Engineering Doctor Training Grant [grant number EP/G037787/1].