Learning and Development
Recognising and celebrating the organisation that demonstrates how their learning and development initiative has improved the understanding of building performance within an organisation and/or in the wider built environment.
Winner: UCL Post-Project Review Guidelines – University College London and Buro Happold
A client-led, collaborative process, with clear impact and tangible outcomes. These were the characteristics noted by the judges that helped Buro Happold and University College London’s (UCL’s) post-project review guidelines to win the Learning and Development Award.
The judges were impressed by the initiative’s well thought through approach to post-occupancy evaluation (POE), as well as the standardisation and clear application of a difficult process that they agreed ‘is often hard to implement effectively’.
UCL is in year six of a 10-year £1.25bn capital programme, with 14 projects on site and 177 projects completed and in operation. With Buro Happold and Alexi Marmot Associates, it launched post-project review (PPR) guidelines, which aim to ensure buildings are performing as intended.
For all projects, the PPR includes a project implementation review (PIR), while for projects of more than £10m – or that are business critical – a full POE is also carried out.
A suite of resources has been created, including:
- Guidance for University project officers – outlines the PIR and POE processes
- PIR templates – for ‘lessons learned’ workshops, including separate feedback forms for staff and design/construction team members
- POE reporting tool – to enable consultants to report on energy/water/waste consumption over a two- to three-year POE.
There is also a central ‘lessons learned’ tracker, from which UCL’s new project mobilisation and transition team feeds forward learning into new and existing projects.
In its first two years, the PIR process has been applied to 10 major projects. The first to complete a PIR and POE was 22 Gordon Street, the £22m refurbishment and extension to UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture. The POE included a review of energy performance (main and sub-meters), two BUS surveys, interviews with users and FM staff, and supervision of two MSc students investigating air quality and thermal comfort.
A 60% reduction in operational energy use per m2 was demonstrated, despite floor area increasing and greater environmental control being provided throughout the building.
The judges said entries to this category all addressed important aspects of building performance evaluation and improving the process to measure building performance.
Project Team
University College London, Buro Happold and Alexi Marmot Associates
Shortlist
Buildings for People: Sustainable Liveable Architecture - The University of Reading