by Shane Henson — February 8, 2013—Human behavior may be causing green buildings in Qatar and elsewhere to perform far below their potential, according to a team of experts brought together by Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), an organization working to increase awareness and knowledge of green building practices.
Nearly two decades of research has shown that green buildings do not perform as well as their designers expect, says QGBC, which, in partnership with Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q), has initiated the first scientific study to determine whether the behavior of the personnel who maintain and operate these buildings—facilities management—is at the heart of this disconnect.
Dr. Mardelle Shepley, a member of the research team and director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University, says that the QGBC/TAMU-Q study is the first to address the role of facilities management on the operations of sustainable buildings, and is long overdue.
The way that building performance is evaluated must change, Shepley said. She explained that, traditionally, green building performance is evaluated on its economic benefits and energy consumption, discounting human factors. In post-occupancy evaluation, buildings are also appraised from the perspective of their end-users, such as students at a school or doctors in a hospital.
“Understanding the experience of facility management staff is critical to the effectiveness of sustainable buildings,” added Shepley, underlining the pivotal role that maintenance personnel play in evaluating building performance, given their unique position in understanding the building owners, its end-users, and the structure itself.
