Managing End-User Feedback in Sustainable Project Delivery .

Sustainable design and construction introduces another layer of complexity to project delivery processes for buildings. To achieve increased efficiencies and improved environments, project teams seek to optimize building systems through the iterative process of integrated design. These sustainable delivery methods are maturing, and there is a growing population of sustainable buildings in operation. Thus, a fundamental question arises---are sustainable buildings performing as expected? And, how can building performance be comprehensively measured? This research investigates sustainable building performance and demonstrates a new methodology for evaluating buildings using the House of Quality matrix to structure the data. The matrix synthesizes data from building operations (including occupant satisfaction, operator satisfaction and actual building performance) to evaluate with respect to the original design intent. Two recent projects provide empirical data collected through an embedded research program. Rigorous data collection procedures were developed to provide information describing building performance. Occupant data was collected using a survey instrument and sampling techniques based on social science research methods. Data collection from building operators was based on triangulation, collecting data through interviews of different operator groups and through the environmental management and control system of each building. Project data was collected through field and embedded research programs and was based primarily on project documents and focused interviews of project team members. Upon completion of the three point evaluation, building performance is described on many levels using the House of Quality to structure the data. Performance metrics, based on the original design intent of the building, are rated by the user groups to enable cross comparison. The House of Quality speeds the process of analyzing the performance data to identify the crucial performance aspects for all stakeholder groups. This is a significant advance from existing research and evaluation practices. By quickly identifying critical building areas, resources are leveraged to investigate building systems of highest importance. The results of this research demonstrate the importance of the project team's focus on the customer during project delivery---the owner organization, as well as significant end-user groups. In each of the two applications of the methodology, the research highlights the tensions that exist between the end-users and the project managers in organizations. The two applications of the building evaluation methodology also show that sustainable buildings do not necessarily perform better than their non-sustainable counterparts. This methodology provides feedback that is crucial to building owners and project teams as sustainable design and construction strategies continue to penetrate the construction industry. The results also indicate that project teams must continue to adapt project controls to establish owner values early in the project and focus design solutions towards these values. For their part, building owners must coordinate user groups to define their multi-layered definition of value and supply timely information to the project team for effective decision making in design.