Paula Femenias

Linking social and environmental aspects: a multidimensional evaluation of refurbishment projects

How do environmental and social aspects of the built environment interact? This question is studied in an evaluation of 10 multidimensional regeneration projects, i.e. addressing social and environmental issues, of Swedish housing areas from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The evaluation design was inspired by the case study evaluation method, based on rich empirical material consisting of an environmental matrix, statistical data on the housing areas, interviews with tenants and employees, and a smaller mass media study. For the analysis, the multidimensional evaluation tool main tetra was applied, resulting in the identification of two themes: social exclusion and organisational learning. The evaluation points to the need to really link environmental and social aspects to gain long-lasting effects and to attain a comprehensive picture. The results overshadow optimistic confidence in the notion that holistic “environmental refurbishment projects”, even if to some extent addressing social aspects, will directly contribute to sustainable development.

Two Case Studies in Energy-Efficient Renovation of Multi-family Housing: Explaining Robustness as a Characteristic to Assess Long-Term Sustainability

This study addresses two energy efficiency (EE) approaches to renovation of multi-family housing in Sweden aiming at a better understanding of robustness as a building characteristic especially in terms of energy performance of buildings and indoor air quality (IAQ). Gardsten (Solar houses) and Brogarden (passive houses) have been analyzed using an analytical framework. Adaptability, Redundancy, preference for passive techniques, users control over IAQ, transparency of systems to users and maintenance facility have been considered as the main criteria for robustness analysis and the performance of cases has been studied in relation to major factors likely to face uncertainties such as household appliances, occupant behavior, maintenance support, energy sources, technical systems, envelope quality and climatic conditions.

Architectural Research in Living Labs: Exploring Occupier Driven Changes in Homes

The chapter reports from a project developing architectural research in connection to a Living Lab. The aim is to create innovative design solutions in order to decrease the environmental loads from material flows over time focusing on occupier driven renovations and alterations to layout, materials and installations of apartments in multi-residential buildings. In a first step, empirical insights from over 300 owner-occupied apartments answers the questions: what changes are made by occupiers, what motivates these changes, and can these changes be linked to different architectural designs? In the continued research the material flows and the environmental impact attributed to these occupier driven renovations and alterations will be estimated giving further indications for more sustainable design of homes.

Users in low-energy buildings: Consequences for clients

The performance of low energy building relies not only on the quality of design, construction and operation but also on users’ behaviour. To illustrate this situation, the study compares cases of low energy buildings in France and Sweden, countries with similar ambitions but following different policies to implement thermal regulations and evolving within distinctive contexts. The research indicates that there is a mismatch between predicted energy value and the real performance of the building. To limit this gap, there is a need to develop new relationships between clients, occupants and operators and to promote professional clients who can interpret users’ needs without jeopardizing the energy performance of the building.This chapter explores how procuring agencies can learn from their own projects by studying the decision-making process in previous projects. It contributes to the W118 research and development agenda by deepening the understanding of mechanisms behind the regulation of supply with the construction industry. The chapter focuses on elements influencing project success and reasons why certain client behaviour in procurement situations may be more effective than others. It also contributes to the understanding of governance mechanisms of client organisations. The chapter describes how the learning experience of the Dutch Highway Agency led to adaptation of project governance structures in the consecutive infrastructure projects. It also explores how learning experiences from procurement processes influence project governance within one client organisation. A formal evaluation of each project on the procurement and project governance aspects of projects can contribute significantly to the learning capacity of a client organisation.