Risk to Performance

PERFORMANCE

Recorded by Sofie Pelsmakers, images by Essi Nisonen

KEY READINGS 

• Energy, People Buildings: Making Sustainable Architecture Work, Kimpian, J., Hartman, H., Pelsmakers, S., RIBA

• Housing Fit For Purpose: Performance, Feedback and Learning, Stevenson, F. RIBA

• RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide

• CIBSE technical Guide F

INSPIRATIONAL BUILT EXAMPLES

• Transsolar, Tower Building C10, Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany

• Sauerbruch Hutton, GSW Headquarters Tower, Berlin, Germany

• Haworth Tomkins, Everyman theatre, UK

RISK TO PERFORMANCE

Understanding and evaluating the risks to building performance is essential for designing in the climate emergency. One crucial tool in this process is monitoring the performance of your project combined with the use of benchmarks. This is because collecting feedback (i.e. monitoring) is one of the best ways to reduce risk to performance as it will reveal issues that can then be fixed; it also requires design processes to be altered throughout all stages with attention to performance, which further minimises risks. Benchmarks can be used as part of the design process and are a standard or performance target against which real-world feedback can be measured. It can also be used as a goal for one’s own project’s performance. Benchmarks, are vital tools for all built environment professionals to define scope, compare, collect data, develop and implement strategies, monitor, evaluate, learn and develop. Often they are quantifiable and relate to technical performance, though occupant satisfaction surveys are increasingly valued. When benchmarking energy consumption, it's crucial that you use recent data from similar projects, age and construction standards. Ideally, these benchmarks should rely on measured performance data.