Building Assessment Methods Research Articles

Assessment method for new sustainability indicators providing pandemic resilience for residential buildings

The method presented in this paper aims to support the sustainability assessment methods of residential buildings under pandemic conditions. The main purpose of the study is to review existing criteria of the well-known assessment tools and then to suggest a set of assessment measures for the emerging pandemic-resilient indicators. Current sustainability assessment methodologies mostly focus on the conventional sustainability pillars (Environmental, Social, Economic), whereas the proposed emerging sustainability assessment indicators include changes in sustainability requirements brought by the current pandemic. Firstly, a set of indicators with possible measures was identified; then, we reviewed several existing green building certification systems to identify their gaps and developed a foundation for each indicator. Finally, several round table discussions involving various stakeholders (e.g., engineers, designers, health care experts, academics) were conducted to consolidate the identified measures. The findings of the present study indicate that certain pandemic-resilient indicators are not fully addressed by existing assessment tools, pointing out the importance of the development of new measures to make them more suitable to use under pandemic conditions. Thus, the present study contributes to the building assessment methods by proposing a set of emerging assessment indicators with measures, which can be used by various professionals that would contribute to more sustainable buildings in upcoming pandemics.•A 5-point scale was used to assess the indicators, and various stakeholders in a previous study identified their weights.•The methodology introduces new pandemic-related indicators into the conventional sustainability concept.•The assessment measures are rapid and economically efficient to apply for any residential building.

Holistic indoor environmental quality assessment as a driver in early building design

ABSTRACT Research and practice agree that decisions taken early in a project have a higher impact and are less costly. Current building performance assessment methods are not suited to accommodate the responsiveness required for early design processes and are often used for validation in the later stages where the feedback has little design impact. Tools developed specifically for early-stage Design Decision Support (DDS) are either too simplistic, provide no solution to addressing combined indoor environmental quality (IEQ), or risk worsening the overall IEQ by optimizing performance indicators in isolation. Most comprehensive building assessment methods evaluate several topics but follow a linear approach which fails to support holistic performance feedback and fails to meet the demand for assessment speed. This paper presents application examples of a holistic IEQ assessment tool (IEQCompass) in design processes. Design experiments demonstrate that the applied approach can meet the challenges of early-stage DDS pointed out in existing literature. Findings from the experiments indicate that the IEQCompass can provide: (1) seamless early-stage assessments through rapid-feedback on changing designs, (2) timely decision support by guiding design teams with criteria overviews, design comparisons and holistic assessment results and (3) dialogue and communication support between architects, engineers and clients.

Benchmarking Case Study, Applying Sustainable -Eco - Building Assessment Method (SEBAM) in Greater Khartoum, Comparing with Global Systems

This sample was taken as benchmarking in (Abdelmoneim, H., 2019) which has got the higher points comparing with all the other samples studied in this research, is chosen for global assessment approach an excellent solution for the sustainable-eco-building assessment method (SEBAM). 
 
 This study aims is to present and analyses a benchmarking case study for sustainable eco-buildings in Greater Khartoum is the capital of Sudan, one of The greatest countries in north Africa. 
 
 The methodology is applying global assessment method to this case study, which is LEED, BREEAM, AGBC, ESTIDAMA and GSAS then compare the result with the local system came up of (Abdelmoneim, H., 2019), sustainable eco-building assessment method to evaluate residential buildings (SEBAM) to justify the results. The comparison is done in this research in the main categories and results. The outcomes show differences rather than similarities this will be discussed in the paper and come up by conclusion and recommendations.

A BIM-LCA Approach for Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Large-Scale Public Buildings: A Case Study

Exiting green building assessment standards sometimes cannot work well for large-scale public buildings due to insufficient attention to the operation and maintenance stage. This paper combines the theory of life cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modeling (BIM) technology, thereby proposing a green building assessment method by calculating the greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) of buildings from cradle to grave. Life cycle GGE (LCGGE) can be divided into three parts, including the materialization stage, the operation and maintenance stage, and the demolition stage. Two pieces of BIM software (Revit and Designbuilder) are applied in this study. A museum in Guangdong, China, with a hot summer and warm winter is selected for a case study. The results show that BIM can provide a rich source of needed engineering information for LCA. In addition, the operation and maintenance stage plays the most important role in the GGE reduction of a building throughout the whole life cycle. This research contributes to the knowledge body concerning green buildings and sustainable construction. It helps to achieve the reduction of GGE over the whole life cycle of a building. This is pertinent to contractors, homebuyers, and governments who are constantly seeking ways to achieve a low-carbon economy.

Grease the Green Wheels: A Framework for Expediting the Green Building Movement in the Arab World

It has been over three decades since the term “sustainable development” was coined in Brundtland’s report in 1987, and 28 years have passed since the world’s first sustainability assessment method for buildings was founded by the Building Research Establishment in UK in 1990. During these three decades, many sustainability standards, codes, and rating systems were created and used to help in designing, constructing, maintaining, rating, and labeling buildings with attaining the principles of sustainability. Yet by looking at the Arab world at the beginning of 2019, one can argue that, although the Arab countries have dedicated the effort and budget to save energy, water, and natural resources, the region as a whole is still struggling to shift the paradigm of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. This struggle raises some questions; are there any challenges that Arab countries must overcome to leap forward to a prosperous sustainable building design and construction practices? Why are existing green building rating systems such as Estidama in United Arab Emirates, global sustainability assessment system (GSAS) in Qatar, and ARZ in Lebanon lagging behind the trends of green building rating systems in the developed countries? What are the coordinated steps needed to expedite this movement across the region? The current study explores the limits and potentials of the green building industry in the Arab world through analysis of the green building initiatives, academic scholarship activities in architecture and engineering sectors, and feedback from green building professionals across the Arab world. This article introduces a theoretical framework to expedite the green building movement in the Arab region; the framework is shaped by the environmental, social, and economic factors that are crucial to the transformation of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. The study seeks to support a line of research that could help governments in the Arab world catch up with the global green building trends.

An approach to develop a green building technology database for residential buildings

Buildings consume approximately 39% of the total energy used in US, of which 53% is consumed by residential buildings. Besides, indoor air quality (IAQ) have significant impacts on occupant health since people spend on average around 90% of their time indoors. Nowadays, a great number of green building technologies (GBTs) have been developed and implemented in buildings for reducing energy consumption and improving IAQ. This paper proposes an approach to develop a green building technology database for residential buildings including their the technology’s feature and performance for energy saving and IAQ improvement under different building configuration and climate conditions. The GBTs are collected from case study buildings. For each study case, the GBTs are classified by the Virtual Design Studio (VDS) building assessment method. A local reference building is first defined for the region where the case building is constructed. Both forward-step evaluation of a proposed GBT to a reference building and backward-step tracking of the contribution of the technology to the case building are conducted. A scalability analysis is also conducted to understand the practical application of the performance parameters to other cases with different building design. EnergyPlus and CHAMPS-Multizone are used to analyse the energy and IAQ performance for each technology. The approach is verified by a case study of two single-family houses in US.

Building impact assessment—A combined life cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis framework

In recent years, net zero energy building has becoming a trend in the building industry, with the aim to reach a carbon-neutral goal by 2050. Building codes, regulations, directives, and design guidelines have primarily focused on a building’s performance—particularly on energy performance. Meanwhile, there is increasing interest in the co-benefits of a building’s energy efficiency, such as human health and water conservation, which are less addressed in building performance assessments. To respond to these critics and the research gap in the current energy-centric building performance assessment framework, this paper presents a methodological framework to assess a building’s impact on energy, environment (smog, global warming, ozone depletion), water (acidification, eutrophication) and human health. This integrated assessment framework is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The aim of this proposed framework is to: (1) shift the mindset from performance to impact when assessing building design solutions; (2) provide a broader building assessment framework that integrates energy, water, the environment, and health; and (3) demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed integrated assessment framework. This paper first outlines the two missing components of the current net zero energy building assessment method, followed by a description of other building impacts that should be included in building. More precisely, three additional impact categories were identified: the environment, water, and human health. Within each impact category, multiple impact criteria were included. Then, a multi-criteria analysis was applied to rank the design alternatives. Lastly, a case study was used to demonstrate the validity of this proposed framework, the original building and three alternatives were evaluated. The results show current single criteria (energy-centric) approach is not adequate since 3 different alternatives performed differently in variety impact categories. In general, design alternatives with low-impact materials generate less human health impact, while not always correlate with life cycle energy saving. The findings approved that the proposed assessment framework can be applied to the whole building as well as to individual building components or assemblies.

Metoda za procjenu seizmičkog ponašanja srednje visokih AB građevina

Metoda za procjenu seizmičkog ponašanja srednje visokih AB građevina

Critical Analysis of Energy Efficiency Assessment by International Green Building Rating Tools and Its Effects on Local Adaptation

The adaptation of green building rating systems (GBRS) as tools for providing a reliable evaluation of specific built environments is becoming increasingly significant, since factors such as regional climatic conditions may hinder the direct application of any GBRS in its non-adapted form. Energy efficiency is one of the central categories for evaluating building performance, although the category is weighted differently by leading GBRS, such as the Building Research Establishment Assessment Method, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Moreover, varying climatic conditions in different counties can affect building performance and result in different levels of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This study focuses on the built environment of Saudi Arabia and seeks to improve the accuracy of its newly established GBRS, namely the Saudi Environmental Assessment Method. After reviewing various existing international GBRS, the study finds that they have a deficiency in their building performance ratio and/or matrix that indicates the differences resulting from various climatic conditions. This can engender unfair building assessments when comparing between two buildings in two different climatic zones. Therefore, it is essential to recognize to what degree the climatic conditions can affect a building’s energy performance within the Saudi Arabian context. In order to address this issue, which is the research question of the study, a critical analysis is conducted that reviews international assessment methods and, employing the building simulation tool IES-VE, assesses three distinct climatic zones: (a) the hot arid climate of Riyadh, (b) the hot humid climate of Jeddah, and (c) the mild hot mountainous climate of Al-Baha. In total, 30 typical building models, 10 in each zone, are subjected to a sensitivity analysis, and the results reveal that the different climatic conditions in Saudi Arabia have a significant effect on building performance. The study therefore concludes developing a climatic conditions ratio/matrix is imperative for enhancing the accuracy of the building assessment method employed.

A comparative analysis of sustainable building assessment methods

Since the advent of the first sustainability assessment method, TRYNNS, a large number of widely differing methods have been developed to assess, rate and certify the sustainability of different types of buildings. This study sets out to review, identify, classify and compare today's main assessment methods by analysing their characteristics, structure, scope of application and approach. As a result, 101 current methods have been identified and assigned to 3 groups: systems, standards and tools, plus a recently approved instrument called Level(s). The 36 most representative methods identified have been selected, and have been compared using 4 variables: phase of life cycle applied; sustainability aspects assessed; categories considered; and the type and status of the project assessed. The results have shown that each of the methods separately does not assess all aspects of a sustainable building. Many assess energy and the quality of the interior environment, while few assess more recent social and economic aspects. The considerable number of methods considered and the in-depth analysis performed in this study give extremely valuable insight into the existing evaluation framework, and allows agents to select the method that best responds to their needs.

Analysis of the scientific evolution of sustainable building assessment methods

The research field concerning sustainable building assessment methods is broad, complex and fragmented due to the great diversity of disciplines and approaches involved. This makes it difficult to obtain useful and unbiased information for future studies so a full review of contributions could provide a comprehensive critical perspective. This paper applies the SciMAT software to analyse the evolution of this research field by means of a systematic literature review of bibliographic records for sustainable building assessment methods, and a review based on the bibliometric analysis of 4203 selected records. In addition, hidden themes and their development in this field have been identified from 1975 to 2017 to produce strategic diagrams of the thematic evolution and performance indicators of the research field in different periods. The results obtained show a scientific field in constant evolution, from its initial focus on environmental impacts and energy efficiency to the gradual inclusion of the social and economic aspects of sustainability building. This has served as a basis for the development of study models, such as LEED and BREEAM. This study makes a valuable contribution because it gives field experts a comprehensive view of the status quo and predicts the dynamic directions of future research.

Building Damage Detection from Post-Event Aerial Imagery Using Single Shot Multibox Detector

Using aerial cameras, satellite remote sensing or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with cameras can facilitate search and rescue tasks after disasters. The traditional manual interpretation of huge aerial images is inefficient and could be replaced by machine learning-based methods combined with image processing techniques. Given the development of machine learning, researchers find that convolutional neural networks can effectively extract features from images. Some target detection methods based on deep learning, such as the single-shot multibox detector (SSD) algorithm, can achieve better results than traditional methods. However, the impressive performance of machine learning-based methods results from the numerous labeled samples. Given the complexity of post-disaster scenarios, obtaining many samples in the aftermath of disasters is difficult. To address this issue, a damaged building assessment method using SSD with pretraining and data augmentation is proposed in the current study and highlights the following aspects. (1) Objects can be detected and classified into undamaged buildings, damaged buildings, and ruins. (2) A convolution auto-encoder (CAE) that consists of VGG16 is constructed and trained using unlabeled post-disaster images. As a transfer learning strategy, the weights of the SSD model are initialized using the weights of the CAE counterpart. (3) Data augmentation strategies, such as image mirroring, rotation, Gaussian blur, and Gaussian noise processing, are utilized to augment the training data set. As a case study, aerial images of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 were maximized to validate the proposed method’s effectiveness. Experiments show that the pretraining strategy can improve of 10% in terms of overall accuracy compared with the SSD trained from scratch. These experiments also demonstrate that using data augmentation strategies can improve mAP and mF1 by 72% and 20%, respectively. Finally, the experiment is further verified by another dataset of Hurricane Irma, and it is concluded that the paper method is feasible.

Influence of facilities performance on student’s satisfaction in Northern Nigerian universities

PurposeHigher institutions in Nigeria have witnessed an increase in the number of student enrolments; Northern Nigerian universities are not excluded. As the number of students increases, so do their needs in terms of facilities such as lecture halls, libraries, laboratories, accommodation, studios, furniture and other auxiliary facilities services (among others things). The purpose of this study is to explore the structural characteristics of building features’ performance and to statistically group them into building components (dependent) and physical and non-physical building features (independent) constructs, relating to influence of facilities’ performance in student satisfaction in Northern Nigerian universities.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires used were designed to collect data on both academic facilities, based on student experience and satisfaction with respect to physical and non-physical facilities. The school building assessment method questionnaire by Sanoff (2001) was adapted. Hence, the validity and reliability of measures was examined via academicians and data analysis with statistical package of social science (SPSS) version 22. In general, the values of alpha coefficients were above 0.80.FindingsThe result of exploratory factor analysis revealed that all factors loaded more than 0.61. In conclusion, the results indicated acceptable factor loadings and effective grouping of the features according to the conceptualised framework for the building component. A hypothetical model of building components was then proposed, suggesting the effects of physical and non-physical building features on building components.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has been applied to a Northern Nigerian university. The research should be expanded to other institutions offering higher education.Practical implicationsBased on a conceptual framework, the study gives practical insights concerning the performance of building component as a key success factor for higher education institutions’ (HEIs) facilities.Originality/valueTherefore, the need to develop and improve instruments that will reflects facilities performance for students satisfaction in Nigerian universities became paramount. Thus there is lack of an integrating framework for facilities performance as well as students satisfaction and experience in the context of Nigerian HEIs, especially in the region of northern Nigeria.

Developing sustainable school guidelines: the case of Egypt

Educational reform has been a concerning matter to the Egyptian government since the 20th century. In order to address the educational problems, several initiatives have instigated a quantitative expansion approach, rather than a qualitative one. Existing building assessment methods convey sustainability principles to building design. However, they do not consider the school design as an active pedagogical tool for sustainable education and development. In addition they do not integrate other imperative parameters necessary for the effective learning and development of students. The developed guideline is divided into two school rating systems; new and existing. The guideline is further divided into three main sustainability categories: energy, water, and habitat. The directing parameters of the guideline are based on sustainable building assessment parameters, Egypt’s pressing social, economic and environmental concerns, pedagogy of educational environments, students’ social, psychological, and developmental needs, in order to develop a holistic framework.

Seismic loss assessment for buildings with various-LOD BIM data

Earthquake-induced loss of buildings is a fundamental concern for earthquake-resilient cities. The FEMA P-58 method is a state-of-the-art seismic loss assessment method for buildings. Nevertheless, because the FEMA P-58 method is a refined component-level loss assessment method, it requires highly detailed data as the input. Consequently, the knowledge of building details will affect the seismic loss assessment. In this study, a seismic loss assessment method for buildings combining building information modeling (BIM) with the FEMA P-58 method is proposed. The detailed building data are automatically obtained from the building information model in which the building components may have different levels of development (LODs). The determination of component type and the development of the component vulnerability function when the information is incomplete are proposed. The modeling rules and the information extraction from BIM through the Autodesk Revit application programming interface (API) are also proposed. Finally, to demonstrate the rationality of the proposed method, an office building that is available online is selected, and the seismic loss assessments with various-LOD BIM data are performed as case studies. The results show that, on the one hand, even if the available building information is limited, the proposed method can still produce an acceptable loss assessment; on the other hand, given more information, the accuracy of the assessment can be improved and the uncertainty can be reduced using the proposed method. Consequently, this study provides a useful reference for the automation of the refined seismic loss assessment of buildings.

Evaluation of Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment Methods of Industrial Buildings in Malaysia

To ensure high performance of projects, risk factors and their impact towards the environment need to be addressed during and after the construction phase. This research aims to assess the risk factors and the impact of industrial projects to the environment and surrounding areas. The research employs multi-method strategies: this case study of SAMUR, Sabah includes several interviews, observations, analysis of project documents and questionnaires distributed among the occupants living in the surrounding area. The results of the research indicated that the project is perceived to have negative environmental impact measured under ecosystem, natural resources, and public impact.

Suggestions for Developing Integrated Risk Assessment Method for High-Rise Buildings in Korea: Based on Analysis of FEMA’s IRVS

The purpose of this study was to develop the integrated risk assessment system for high-rise buildings reflecting the Korean Building Code and guidelines of Preliminary Disaster Inspection and Consultation Systems based on the analysis of FEMA’s IRVS in US. Through reviewing various hazards’ assessment factors, a classification system and methodology for evaluating risk scores in IRVS, applicable factors, limitation of systems to apply to a Korean future system and improvement to verify the assessment methodology are determined. The results of this study will be used to provide the framework and establish the practical goals for developing a Korean risk assessment system for high-rise buildings.

Bridging the gap: The need for a systems thinking approach in understanding and addressing energy and environmental performance in buildings

Innovations in materials, construction techniques and technologies in building construction and refurbishment aim to reduce carbon emissions and produce low-energy buildings. However, in-use performance consistently misses design specifications, particularly those of operational energy use and indoor environmental quality. This performance gap risks reducing design, technology, sustainability, economic, health and well-being benefits. In this paper, we compare settings of the Chinese and the UK buildings sectors and relate their historical context, design, construction and operation issues impacting energy performance, indoor environmental quality, occupant health and well-being. We identify a series of key, common factors of ‘total’ building performance across these two settings: the application of building regulations, the balance between building cost and performance, skills, construction and operation. The dynamic and complex interactions of these factors are currently poorly understood and lead to building performance gaps. We contend that a systems approach in the development of suitable building assessment methods, technologies and tools could enable the formulation and implementation of more effective policies, regulations and practices. The paper illustrates the application of the approach to the UK and Chinese settings. A full application of a systems approach may help to provide a more dynamic understanding of how factor interactions impact the ‘total’ building performance gaps and help address its multiple causes.

Development of a sustainability assessment method for buildings – the OPEN HOUSE case

PurposeThe paper aims to present the core part of the research work done within the FP7 OPEN HOUSE project, aiming to merge existing methodologies for sustainability assessment of buildings towards a common view, applicable as an open access assessment method across European Union (EU). One of the principle tasks was to evaluate the applicability of proposed indicators in EU countries with different legal frameworks, climate conditions, status and condition of the building stock and construction tradition.Design/methodology/approachTo reach the goal, it had to be established first whether the pre-selected indicators suit the purpose in countries different from each other regarding various influential factors. A questionnaire survey based on close-ended quantitative thematic questions was performed to evaluate the acceptability and relevance of each indicator in national contexts, thus defining the path for the final protocol of selection criteria for the OPEN HOUSE method.FindingsThe responses enabled and justified necessary minor corrections and regrouping to define the full (56 indicators) and core (30 indicators) indicator sets, demonstrating that the system is applicable in EU countries. This task made ground for finalisation of the OPEN HOUSE method: definition of evaluation procedures and sustainability performance levels and testing of the approach on demo cases.Originality/valueThis paper shows how the research team tackled the problem of limited use of building sustainability assessment methods due to specific boundary conditions by determining a widely applicable set of categories and related indicators based upon an extensive analysis of existing assessment methods, standardisation development, formal guidelines and strategic (inter)national frameworks.

LEED, Its Efficacy and Fallacy in a Regional Context—An Urban Heat Island Case in California

The use of energy in the building sector has increased rapidly over the past two decades. Accordingly, various building assessment methods have developed in green building practices. However, the questions still remain in regard to how positively green buildings affect regional surroundings. This study investigates the possible relationship between LEED-certified buildings and urban heat island effect. Using GIS with spatial regression, the study found that constructing an LEED building in a 30-m boundary could possibly lower the temperature of the surrounding environment by 0.35 °C. Also, having a higher certification level, such as Gold or Platinum, increased the lowering effect by 0.48 °C, while a lower certification level, such as Certified or Silver, had a lowering effect of 0.26 °C. Although LEED has gained a substantial amount of interest and skepticism at the same time, the study results could be a potential sign that the Sustainable Sites Credits or energy-efficient materials play a positive role in lowering the temperature.