The Barbican Centre: Can post-occupancy evaluation methods be used to design workable retrofit solutions for iconic and listed buildingsCarrie Behar, PhD Researcher [carrie.behar@ucl.ac.uk]

• Initiate a conversation about whether standardised post-occupancy

evaluation methodologies (POE) have any application at an atypical

case study site.

Aim of Presentation

Structure• Introduce research context and case study site

• Research questions

• Methodology and research methods

• Headline results

• Effectiveness and limitations of chosen methodology

• 80% of the homes that UK citizens will inhabit in 2050 have

already been built- need for mass retrofit

• 9,300 conservation areas and 374,081 listed buildings in

England (1.5%= listed, 4.6% in conservation areas)

• What to do with those buildings that do not lend

themselves to fabric interventions?

(e.g. iconic and listed buildings)

POE

Housing and Retrofit

• Growing recognition of performance gap between predicted

and actual energy use, as a result of people and behaviour-

could POE be used to inform retrofit decisions?

Case Study Site: The Barbican Centre

1. How well do the residential areas of the Barbican Centre perform in

terms of design, lighting, noise, thermal comfort and perceived personal

control, and how do these results compare to benchmark data from

other UK housing projects?

2. How can we improve the energy performance of the Barbican, given its

status as a Listed Building and the age of its heating system?

3. How effective is POE as a diagnostic tool for characterising baseline

user satisfaction, energy use and behaviour, as well as in identifying

treatable problems and solutions at a case study site?

Research Questions

POE Study of Barbican

Occupant Survey

BUS Behaviour Bespoke

Heating Energy Analysis

Metered data 2002-

2008

Methods

• Case study investigating the issue ‘within some real life context’ (Yin 2009)

• qualitative and quantitative questions

• 19.2% response rate (395 surveys)

Results: BUS

Barbican

Control over heating

Overall satisfaction high but:

• Dry air all year

• Variable temperatures

• Poor heating control

• Poor noise control

Index Score Percentile

Comfort 0.92 99

Satisfaction 1 99

Summary 0.96 99

Forgiveness 1.16 89

Results: Heating Controls

Standardised POE as Method?

Conclusions

• Critical question about heating and cooling control was added

after review with residents and is site specific

• ‘One size fits all’ POE method might not be best solution for

this kind of building, but is a useful departure point to get to

the bottom of what is going on

• Bespoke investigation produces best results but there is a

trade off in terms of time

Any Questions?

Thank you!