Standards Development

Scope

This standard provides guidance on the approaches used to evaluate actual building performance; the identification of performance parameters that warrant attention according to specific circumstances; and the expertise required of individuals undertaking different degrees of building performance evaluation.
It will cover:

• What needs to be tested / evaluated, depending on the physicality of the property (materials, method of construction), form and use, performance parameters of interest – see further description of this later), and the reason(s) for the evaluation.

• Why – To verify as built performance or performance before or after improvement works (ideally this should become accepted practice for all buildings being created or modified); to investigate suspected underperformance; to inform the design of a new building or building type (including for example off-site manufactured buildings). The standard should also be applicable to track performance over time, e.g. for annual reporting or periodic building MOTs.

• When - Evaluation activities may be conducted prior to works, during works or ‘in process’, at completion of works, 6-12 months after completion. They may be triggered by various construction stages, a prescribed timetable, to aid the specification of other building(s) and/or if performance concerns are raised by occupants, users or other stakeholders. Ideally, some performance evaluation is recommended to track performance over time as a form of building MOT (as in the case of DECs) or in the case of evaluating the durability of components and systems.

• How the evaluation should be pursued and escalated if required – including ongoing adoption of new methods, technologies and techniques. The standard will also prescribe the accuracy, granularity and format in which test and measurement data should be captured and held. Common data structures are seen as key requirement to enable transfer of data if required for purposes of escalation (which may be done by a more specialist Evaluator in a specific field), comparisons either over time or if results are aggregated for any other purposes – of which many are possible.

 
• Who -The expertise required to conduct and interpret evaluation activities will vary and increasingly advanced skills and expertise will be required as evaluation complexity escalates from straightforward checking through to diagnostics and forensic investigation. The Evaluator who will adhere to the proposed standard, will take responsibility for checking the relevant performance parameters and investigating any underperformance found to identify the root cause.

 
This standard will take account of building occupants/operators and occupation patterns including density, both in evaluating the building performance is fit purpose in respect of its occupants and occupation and in incorporating occupant (user) feedback and insights to identify and help investigate performance concerns.  

Purpose

To date, BS40101 has not had wide uptake. Feedback from a BSI survey on the use of BS40101:2022 and suggestions for improving the uptake of the standard highlighted that the 3 graduated levels plus investigative structure was too inflexible for practical use for various situations and purposes. The cost of carrying out the work to meet the standard was also a concern. This was further supported by panel experience.

Measurement and monitoring technology and tools to interpret this data have developed significantly over recent years and BS40101 needs to be updated to accommodate these, in order to reduce cost, improve methods and thus increase effectiveness of the standard.

Several government policy, programmes, standards and regulations have been introduced, recently revised or are under development which could benefit from consistent application of BPE to audit or validate project outcomes. Future Homes Standard, elements of the Warm Homes Plan, UK Net Zero Building Standards, Optimised Retrofit (Wales), Descent Homes, Awaab’s law. For BS40101 to be applicable in these situations, a revision of the standard is required to improve its alignment.