Stage 5: Use, Evaluate and Maintain
Handover should be managed in a way that ensures that building engineering services are properly commissioned and building users/managers understand what has been done, how it is intended to work, and how they can maintain it. Advice should also be given on the importance of maintaining ventilation in reducing the risks of condensation and ensuring good indoor air quality.
Projects where user manuals, maintenance schedules, verbal briefings and follow up visits have been provided, prove to be significantly more successful than those where little or no information was offered.
After handover, interventions should be checked and evaluated to make sure everything is working as planned. Energy bills or more involved evaluation methods can be used to compare levels of energy use before and after improvements. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) may be carried out. Normally, a proportionate stepwise approach is preferable, with more advanced investigations being done only if needed, as described in our building performance evaluation webpages.
The scope of ongoing annual building maintenance checks should be expanded to include inspections of new fabric and service installations:
- where fabric improvements have been carried out, (for example, insulation added to roof, walls and floors) check for signs of condensation, mould, onset of decay and for degradation of fabric, such as that caused by moisture penetration or solar radiation
- where new services have been installed, check they continue to operate effectively and as anticipated and that all maintenance needs have been met, such as cleaning surfaces or air intake vents, or changing filters
Information gathered during evaluation, any problems and steps taken to remedy them, should be documented and made available to the building users and managers. These records should be passed on when a building changes hands. The energy strategy should be reviewed and adjusted whenever a building is altered, or if its use or occupancy changes. If necessary, findings should be used to adjust future phases of any whole building improvement plan or energy strategy.
