Post Occupancy Evaluation in Canada: Challenges, Potential Improvements and New Frontiers

Abstract

Canada’s Build Smart strategy has a goal to build high-performance buildings by integrating occupant comfort with energy efficiency. Despite having established best practices to design high-performance buildings, there is a considerable gap between sustainable design and the actual performance of the building. Building performance evaluation provides tools and methods to investigate and analyze performance gaps in the buildings. Pre-occupancy and post-occupancy evaluations can be used to assess the way buildings function and establish a better understanding of sustainable performance. First, this study discusses the background and evolution of post-occupancy evaluation techniques in Canada. Second, the paper summarizes the methods and findings of a 2014 study by the International Institute of Sustainable Built Environment Canada that conducted post-occupancy evaluations of several green buildings across Canada, and it identifies the limitations of this study’s protocol. Third, the paper discusses potential improvements to refine and prepare the protocol for a new iteration of studies in 2020, including foundations for a more rigorous and specific level of post-occupancy evaluations.