BPE Protocol

The streamlined version of EcoSmart's BPE Protocol is now complete and is publicly available to the design community. Please see attachment below.

The BPE Protocol presents a method to evalute the performance of buildings in use, an activity generically called Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) or Building Performance Evaluation (BPE). It has been piloted on six buildings and improvements have been incorporated into the protocol throughout and at the end of the pilot process.

The overall goal of the BPE Project has been to improve the design of buildings while minimizing their environmental impacts. By learning from the successes and deficiencies of built projects, as revealed through Building Performance Evaluation, designers can strengthen their capacity to design buildings with reduced energy and emissions and satisfactory occupant comfort.

The BPE project took place in two phases: protocol development, and protocol piloting with concurrent and subsequent sharing of results through an evaluated educational process.

The evaluation finds, collates and encourages reflection upon information about:

- building’s resource consumption (energy, water),
- occupant satisfaction with building (overall satisfaction, social capital development,
- thermal comfort, lighting, acoustic and indoor air quality, washroom usability),
- building operation experiences, and
- to what extent the building meets the design intention

The information is fed back to the design team and to the building design community with the purpose of helping to improve design practice.

The BPE Protocol is in excel format so it may be used as a workbook. See attachment below.

Topic/project: Building Performance Evaluation Ref: BPE Protocol