Post-occupancy Review

Six months is a reasonable period for the operating characteristics to be apparent. If you delay much longer individuals will gradually disperse and you will lose the benefit of their observations and experience.

Design Quality Index

If you do not already have a proven process for learning what stakeholders think about the completed project, you could use the Design Quality Index. It is ideal for buildings. DQI can be also used at stages during the design and construction process.

DQI Online is an interactive tool with a simple non-technical questionnaire. Answering these questions will help you and your colleagues assess the quality of your building in a way that involves all your stakeholders. You get instant results that can be displayed in different ways to promote discussion.

The DQI questionnaire addresses three angles:

• Functionality: How the space (in your built environment) has been managed and how the usefulness of the building can be assessed.
• Build Quality: The engineering performance of the building, which includes its structural stability as well as the integration and robustness of the systems, finishes and fittings.
• Impact: The ability of the building to create a sense of place, and to have a positive effect on the local community and environment. It also encompasses the wider effect its design may have within the design and construction community.

DQI involves the client, project delivery team, end users, and operation and maintenance personnel.

It follows three steps:

• Convene a short meeting to explain DQI and how it works.
• Get individuals to complete the questionnaire on-line.
• Go over the results in a workshop where respondents can debate the outcomes, leading to a report that highlights the pros and cons of the design and the key learning to be carried forward to subsequent projects.

Note that the post-occupancy review is part of the project review and provides valuable feedback to the success factors in future similar projects.

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