Post-occupancy evaluation: The missing link

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a multidisciplinary platform allowing the in-depth study and analysis of projects upon occupation. By combining quantitative monitoring with qualitative surveys, it provides a tool for the assessment of project usability and user satisfaction and points out improvements and amendments potentially needed. Constraints may impede a POE, and the case presented here had several such, not least the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, POE is a vital link missing from the building process. The ZERO-PLUS case studies’ POE was successful. Surveys indicated high user satisfaction, overall and on individual parameters (ventilation, temperature, noise, lighting, odors). Building users indicated preference to operate windows and doors to achieve thermal comfort and improve indoor air/environment quality (IAQ/IEQ) before operating HVAC. No significant discrepancies between seasons were observed in satisfaction levels, asserting design and construction adaptability to different weather patterns. Satisfaction discrepancies on the base of gender, age, education, occupation, or health were insignificant. Renewable energy sources (RES) utilization, an integral part of this project, was indicated as one of the reasons for changing behavioral patterns. Thus, POE results confirm the high quality of the case studies design, detailing and construction, and the importance of thoroughly and appropriately informing the user.