Introduction
Many existing, new and retrofitted buildings exhibit large gaps between design aspirations and in-use performance. To meet policy objectives and meet the needs of building owners and occupants, in-use performance needs to improve rapidly and radically. While many people are now aware of performance gaps for energy use and CO2 emissions, fewer people are aware that issues are also evident in technical performance, occupant satisfaction, operating costs, environmental impact and importantly the health of the occupants.
Data is the key to understanding whether we are making the right choices throughout the lifecycle of the building. The UK suffers from a disjointed approach to building performance evaluation (BPE), where data are inaccessible, study methods are not clear or shared, and decisions are often made on poor or limited data. The best way to address these problems is through a common standard and set of protocols that can be used for BPE across the whole industry.
The BPE standard is expected to cover both domestic and non-domestic buildings and in addition to energy and carbon it will include indoor air quality, acoustics, lighting and the health of the occupants.
During 2019 a working group has developed a scope for a proposed BPE standard, which has been subject to publication and consultation through BSI’s processes. The final approved scope has been used as the basis for BSI’s approval to proceed with accepting this into its full BSI standard development pipeline, including the provision of administrative and secretariat support.
UKRI is supporting the development of a British Standard for Building Performance Evaluation through the ISCF Transforming Construction Challenge. Read more about that here.
The Building Performance Network (BPN) will develop and manage the necessary contracts to deliver the BPE standard, including the purchase of 100 copies of the final standard to be distributed free of charge after the launch of the standard and various activities to promote the standard.
The project will be managed by George Martin, Executive Chair of the Building Performance Network (BPN) who will also represent BPN on the drafting panel.
Process for Developing the Standard
The BPE standard will be drafted by a panel, including a Technical Author and recommendations made by Dr Mashford, who will Chair the panel and also work with a BSI Editorial Project Manager. The Editorial Project Manager will manage the drafting process and advise on formatting to align with the BSI house style.
The drafting panel will sit under a newly-formed BSI Technical Committee (TC), formed of nominated representatives of organizations such as Trade Associations and Professional Institutions. The TC will need to give the final “rubber stamp” of approval of the standard prior to publication and will keep an eye on progress of the drafting and be available should any issues arise that can’t be resolved by the panel.
Sitting above all TCs in the Built Environment sector is an overarching policy and strategy committee – of which Rosie Harper is the committee Manager.
BSI will provide a free standard to the author and to each of the drafting panel members.
Proposed Timeline
The whole process for creating a BSI standard normally takes 18 months, but with much of the drafting being done by a technical author, BSI have estimated that they can cut this down to something closer to 12 months. BSI state that they cannot make any guarantees concerning the actual publication date and that the schedule will largely be dependent on how quickly the Author works and how frequently the drafting panel meets.
A period of public consultation is provided with the expectation of work required to resolve issues raised through the consultation process, and to make appropriate revisions.
The proposed timeline (as of January 2021) is as follows:
| Pre-start set up | September / October 2020 |
| Initial Drafting and editing | November 2020 – March 2021 |
| Approval for public consultation | April 2021 |
| Public Consultation | May – June 2021 |
| Comment resolution | July – August 2021 |
| Final approval | September 2021 |
| Typesetting, proofing & publication | October 2021 |
| Launch event | End October 2021 |
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| Total | 13 months |
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