Sustainable building evaluation: a case study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The building sector is one of the leading contributors to global climate change. In recent decades, sustainable building assessment systems have been introduced in developed countries to improve the overall performance of buildings and to prevent greenhouse gas emissions, the main culprit of human activities in the current climate change. SBTool is a sustainable building evaluation system that can be calibrated according to the region, project type and phase of development, making SBTool a tailormade assessment system for a specific project. In this study, SBTool was adapted for the first time to an educational facility in Marmara/Turkey climate. The assessment parameters and their weights are arranged according to climate zone, building type, and accommodation characteristics. The created assessment tool was applied analytically to the Engineering Faculty Building of Yalova University/Turkey as a case study. The study showed that the government-run educational facilities could be evaluated with a tool that has 7 Issues, 21 Categories and 45 Criteria after adjustments made to follow its specific regional and local conditions. The assessed building got a Weighted Score of 3.30 points compared to the Target Weighted Score established at 3.08 points. The relative performance score was assigned to “B” which means an acceptable standard for a sustainable building. The methodology of assessment is presented step by step ending up with a graphical interpretation of the evaluation.