Embedding building performance evaluation in UK architectural practice and beyond

Despite repeated efforts to foreground post-occupancy evaluation (POE) in many countries, few have any policy or legislation in place to mandate this process. Large-scale voluntary efforts have also failed to provide successful templates through which to mainstream broader building performance evaluation (BPE) activity within which POE sits. This paper reviews various programmes and initiatives in the UK that have attempted to embed first POE, then BPE, over the last 20 years within a global context, using a practice-based approach based on the author’s experience of working in the field over this period. Key findings are: a failure of government to systemically follow through on BPE initiatives; stakeholders operating independently of each other; lack of institutional engagement in the education sector as a key driver for BPE; and the potential for interdisciplinary models to embrace all members of the design team as well as the client. The means by which BPE has been successfully embedded into practice directly is examined through deep organizational learning and knowledge-exchange activities. Recommendations for these models to be replicated through professional institutions, other learning organizations and regulatory frameworks in the UK are presented as a constructive way forward.