In-use monitoring of buildings: An overview and classification of evaluation methods

Differences between the expected and the actual performance of buildings have been attributed partly to the influence of occupants; post-occupancy evaluations have thus gained more importance in the last years. There are a variety of methods to evaluate the performance of buildings. However, many of them are expensive, time consuming, intrusive or require expert knowledge, and thus, it has been difficult to embed them in practice. This investigation seeks to categorise the methods according to their purpose and usability to provide feedback. This study aims at linking different types of evaluation methods to different purposes for monitoring buildings. The objective is providing with the information needed to set up and carry out the monitoring of a building in-use. This overview was based on the experience of the authors in a number of non-domestic and domestic case studies, and on literature review. The study shows that the selection of the evaluation methods should be made according to the objective of the evaluation, the depth and nature of the study, the audience of the feedback, and the resources available for the evaluation. The relationship between all these factors have been studied and represented visually for a better comprehension of the methods.