Post-occupancy evaluation: process delineation and implementation trends in the UK higher education sector

ABSTRACT This paper identifies the key planning stages of a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), utilising prominent guidance documentation and then develops a delineated data flow diagram representing the decision pathways (as a process map) practitioners are required to follow. Process mapping conducted also identifies inconsistencies in POE planning and implementation in practice, and develops new theory regarding the barriers to systematic and comparable POE implementation. An interpretivist and inductive research approach is utilised to develop new insights and theories on POE implementation using secondary data contained in published case study reports. The research delineates prominent POE guidance documentation using data flow diagrams to enable a cross comparative analysis to be made between case studies. A comparison of the delineated publicly available POE reports illustrate a distinct lack of consistency in the implementation of POE directly impeding the development of benchmarks and subsequent iterative improvement of future building design. Furthermore, the observed low levels of compliance (with data collection recommended in industrial guidance documentation) shows that the full utility and widely espoused sustainability benefits of POE are not being exploited in practice. Findings presented emphasise the requirement for a standardised approach to implementing POE in practice vis-à-vis simplifying the diverse array of strategies and approaches stipulated in prevailing guidance documentation. Such work is the first to adopt a process mapping approach to POEs conducted in practice.