A qualitative and life cycle-based study of the energy performance gap in building construction: Perspectives of Finnish project professionals and property maintenance experts

Figures & data

Figure 1. Demographic information of the interviewees.

Table 1. Interviewees’ discipline, role and their latest project’s type, budget, and duration.

Discipline	Interviewee ID	Role	Last project type	Last project’s budget	Last project’s duration (year)
Design management	INT 1 (DM)	Geothermal heating design consultant	Building construction	€ 30,000,000	3
	INT 2 (DM)	Principal HVAC designer	Building construction	€ 75,000,000	3
	INT 3 (DM)	CEO	Building construction	€ 140,000,000	5
	INT 4 (DM)	Energy Specialist	Building construction	€ 40,000,000	5
	INT 5 (DM)	Design manager	Building renovation	€ 2,000,000	5
Project management (client)	INT 1 (PMClient)	Project manager	Building construction	€ 150,000,000	4,5
	INT 2 (PMClient)	Site manager	Building renovation	€ 52,000,000	5
	INT 3 (PMClient)	Project manager	Building construction	€ 7,000,000	2,5
	INT 4 (PMClient)	Project manager	Building renovation	€ 10,000,000	2
	INT 5 (PMClient)	Project manager	Building renovation	€ 10,000,000	2
Project management (contractor)	INT 1 (PMContractor)	Design and sustainability manager	Building renovation	€ 80,000	1
	INT 2 (PMContractor)	Project manager	Building construction	€ 40,000,000	5
	INT 3 (PMContractor)	Project manager	Building renovation	€ 1,000,000	1
	INT 4 (PMContractor)	Project manager	Building construction	€ 90,000,000	5
	INT 5 (PMContractor)	Head of Project Business Unit	Building construction	€ 110,000,000	3
Property management	INT 1 (PropertyMgmt)	Service Delivery Manager	Ongoing maintenance of existing buildings	€ 300,000	–
	INT 2 (PropertyMgmt)	Real Estate Manager	Building construction	€ 300,000,000	–
	INT 3 (PropertyMgmt)	Real Estate Manager	Ongoing maintenance of existing buildings	€ 60,000	–
	INT 4 (PropertyMgmt)	Service Unit Director	Ongoing maintenance of existing buildings	€ 200,000	–
	INT 5 (PropertyMgmt)	Chief Strategy Officer	Ongoing maintenance of existing buildings	€ 500,000	–
	INT 6 (PropertyMgmt)	Senior Specialist, indoor air	Ongoing maintenance of existing buildings	€ 200,000,000	–

Table 2. Most frequently mentioned challenges/barriers by interviewees for achieving energy efficiency in building construction projects.

Theme	Representing challenge/barrier	References (i.e. interviewee ID)
Project delivery	Lack of involvement of HVAC contractors and operation/maintenance people in the project definition and design phase	INT 2 (PropertyMgmt), INT 1 (PMContractor), INT 6 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (PMContractor)
	Fragmented (i.e. divided/isolated) procurement, project delivery and maintenance process (multiple contracts) of energy efficient systems & fragmented project organization	INT 1 (PMContractor), INT 2 (DM), INT 5 (PMContractor) INT 1 (PMClient)
	Dominance of low-price criteria in the tendering process for selecting contractors which usually have low capacity to deliver their promises	INT 1 (DM), INT 5 (PMContractor)
Finance	High investment cost of modern energy systems	INT 1 (PMClient), INT 2 (DM) INT 3 (DM), INT 3 (PMClient) INT 4 (PMContractor)
	Insufficient budget for energy efficiency goals	INT 1 (PMClient), INT 3 (PMClient)
	Compromising energy efficiency goals and plans due to the high initial cost and insufficient budget of the project	INT 3 (DM), INT 3 (PMClient)
Building’s energy system	Complexity and low efficiency of modern energy systems	INT 2 (DM), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (DM), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (PMClient)
	Inaccurate and/or unreasonable calculation of targeted energy consumption of the building	INT 5 (DM), INT 1 (DM), INT 3 (PMClient)
Building operation, maintenance and optimization	Weak commissioning of the building at the beginning of operation phase	INT 5 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (DM)
Regulatory Issues	Zoning issues	INT 1 (PMClient), INT 2 (PMContractor)
Client	Client's limited understanding/awareness about modern solutions for achieving energy efficiency in buildings	INT 3 (DM), INT 5 (PMClient)
Competence development	Lack of/limited number of competent maintenance workforce for handling modern and complex energy systems	INT 1 (PropertyMgmt), INT 6 (PropertyMgmt)

Notes: The reference column refers to those interviewees, which mentioned these identified challenges/barriers in the interviews.

Table 3. Most frequently mentioned solutions/enablers by interviewees for achieving energy efficiency in building construction projects.

Theme	Representing solution/enbaler	References
Project delivery	Life cycle contract	INT 1 (PropertyMgmt), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt), INT 3 (DM), INT 3 (PMClient), INT 3 (PMContractor), INT 3 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (PMContractor), INT 5 (DM), INT 5 (PropertyMgmt), INT 5 (PMContractor) INT 5 (PMContractor), INT 2 (DM)
	Collaborative project delivery models (particularly alliance delivery model)	INT 1 (PMClient), PMContractor INT 2 (PMContractor), INT 3 (DM)
	Involving building services people in the project definition and design phase	INT 2 (PMContractor), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt), INT 3 (PMClient) INT 4 (PMContractor)
	Involvement of client and its representative (consultant) from project definition phase until the end of the project	INT 1 (DM), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt) INT 3 (PMClient)
	Early definition of the use of building and its spaces	INT 1 (PMContractor), INT 3 (PMClient)
Building’s energy system	Developing guidelines for designing hybrid energy systems for buildings	INT 1 (DM), INT 2 (PropertyMgmt) INT 4 (PMClient)
Building operation, maintenance and optimization	Appropriate calibration and commissioning of the energy system at the beginning of building operation phase	INT 1 (PropertyMgmt), INT 2 (PMClient), INT 4 (DM)
	Continuous monitoring and optimization of building operation and maintenance by dedicated and competent workforce	INT 1 (PropertyMgmt), INT 3 (PropertyMgmt), INT 4 (DM)
Competence development	Sufficient education, training and number of experts in the area of heat pump	INT 3 (PMContractor), INT 5 (PMClient)

Notes: The reference column refers to those interviewees, which mentioned these identified challenges/barriers in the interviews.

Figure 2. Important barriers and enablers of achieving energy efficiency in different life cycle phases of building construction projects.

Figure 3. Cost and benefit of poor and wise decisions in the project definition and operation phases.