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Building energy benchmarking is required for adopting an energy certification scheme, promoting energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. It demonstrates the current level of energy consumption, the value of potential energy improvement and the prospects for additional savings. This paper aims to create a new data envelopment analysis (DEA) model that overcomes the limitations of existing models for building energy benchmarking.

Data preparation: the findings of the literature search and subject matter experts’ inputs are used to construct the DEA model. Particularly, it is ensured that the included variables would not violate the fundamental assumption of DEA modeling, DEA convexity axiom. New DEA formulation: controllable and non-controllable variables, e.g. weather conditions, are differentiated in the new formulation. A new approach is used to identify outliers to avoid skewing the efficiency scores for the rest of the buildings under consideration. Efficiency analysis: three distinct efficiencies are computed and analyzed in benchmarking building energy: overall, pure technical, and scale efficiency.

The proposed DEA approach is successfully applied to a data set provided by a utility management and energy services company that is active in the multifamily housing industry. Building characteristics and energy consumption of 124 multifamily properties in 15 different states in the USA are found in the data set. Buildings in this data set are benchmarked using the new DEA energy benchmarking formulation. Building energy benchmarking is also conducted in a time series manner showing how a particular building performs across the period of 12 months compared with its peers.

The proposed research contributes to the body of knowledge in building energy benchmarking through developing a new outlier detection method to mitigate the impact of super-efficient and super-inefficient buildings on skewing the efficiency scores of the other buildings; avoiding ratio variables in the DEA formulation to adhere to the convexity assumption that existing DEA methods do not follow; and distinguishing between controllable and non-controllable variables in the DEA formulation. This research contributes to the state of practice through providing a new energy benchmarking tool for facility managers and building owners that strive to relatively rank the energy-efficiency of their properties and identify low-performing properties as investment targets to enhance energy efficiency.

As corporate real estate is increasingly being recognised as an important cost and production factor, senior management now pays considerable attention to this asset group. These assets are managed, inter alia, by using benchmarks. In addition to monetary benchmarks, building efficiency (e.g. m² of usable floor area per m² of gross external floor area) and capacity benchmarks in particular (e.g. m² of usable floor area per existing workplace) must be highlighted. Previously, specific values and their drivers for the assessment of buildings or portfolios were not available.

This study is based on a survey carried out in Switzerland, involving the collection of floor data (in accordance with DIN 277) of 116 owner‐operated office buildings. In addition, their drivers were ascertained using regression analyses.

The building efficiency may be assessed on the basis of the share of usable floor area or the share of office space in the gross external floor area. The main drivers are the shares of vehicle parking space, areas for residential and recreational purposes and areas for storage, distribution and retail. These drivers must be taken into consideration when assessing the building efficiency. It became apparent that capacity benchmarks are determined primarily by factors such as the space use management strategies, and only to a lesser degree by the building itself.

The study provides space benchmarks and their drivers. The results therefore permit an objective evaluation of office buildings. However, further work transcending the influence of the building itself will be required with regard to the capacity benchmarks.

The purpose of this paper is to establish how UK offices and double skin façade (DSF) technologies can be best matched for refurbishment purposes.

This research uses a mixed methodology including primary and secondary data collection, analysis and interpolation through document analysis, comprehensive critical literature review, and case study approach.

In total, 22 benchmarks have been developed to represent 75 per cent of the existing office stock in the UK. Through a comparison with 36 case studies of European buildings refurbished with DSFs, two benchmarks showed to be most suitable for a DSF refurbishment and most appropriate configurations for a successful DSF refurbishment have been identified. Findings have been also checked against a large sample of DSF buildings in the UK.

The benchmarks delivered in this study can be developed further into parametric models, where variations can be obtained by changing the parameters provided. A follow-up study can be designed to help define the exact share of existing stock represented by each benchmark and to foster research where a more typological or statistical approach might be intended.

Findings from this research can be of practical use to academics and practitioners alike involved in research related to office refurbishments, DSFs, and the UK existing office stock. The design for this research can also be adapted to similar studies on its own or further developed to suit different contexts.

Improvements to existing buildings can preserve established communities, with a clear social advantage.

This paper represents the first attempt to systemically shed light on how existing UK offices and DSF technologies can be best matched in refurbishments. The benchmarks developed, the DSF case studies, and guidelines for suitable DSF technologies in UK office refurbishments represent the original contribution of this research.

Benchmarking is a tool for analysing a property or portfolio performance against its peers. This paper outlines some of the central components of benchmarking and demonstrates how benchmarking can bring perspective to operating expenses and ultimately positively affect the valuation of a property. Careful benchmarking of operating expenses can reveal much about the value of investment properties and help to identify opportunities to create value or enhance the value of an asset. Examples illustrate how the value of a given asset can vary dramatically, with even small percentage changes in operating expenses. Such information, in turn, provides the basis for facility and asset management decisions, ranging from estimating budgets to planning capital expenditures for upgrades or improvements. Benchmarking can also enable detailed comparative analysis, which in turn, can assist in identifying areas for improving operations and management by trimming costs or adjusting service levels.

This paper aims to primarily analyzing the state and pattern of current energy benchmarking progress on commercial buildings since the New York City’s energy disclosure law, Local Law 84: Benchmarking has been implemented. It then compares the yearly benchmarking progress of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified and non-LEED-certified buildings as well as ENERGY STAR-certified and non-ENERGY STAR-certified.

For thorough analytics, the authors combined and examined four sources of data: New York City Local Law 84: Benchmarking, Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, US Green Building Council and US Environmental Protection Agency. The data sets were combined using two primary keys: the Borough, Block, Lot (BBL) number and the building address. Four years of energy use intensity values were obtained and normalized by shrinking the range of deviance in weather.

The findings indicate a significant improvement in the benchmarking progress when controlling building size, building type, year of construction or the most recent renovation and the presence of renovation. Interestingly, there is no significant difference in the energy benchmarking progress between LEED- and non-LEED-certified buildings. Possible reasons are explored and discussed.

From a methodological perspective, the study benefited from data disclosure as well as open data sources and used secondary data with a relatively large sample size. Many studies in the construction industry are based on the case-study approach, which may affect generalizability and causality of research findings. This unique approach illustrates the potential of secondary data analysis in the industry.

This paper investigates the energy performance of aquatic centres in Victoria.

Physical and occupancy characteristics and energy consumption from various centres were analysed to understand the interrelationship between numerous factors that contribute to the energy consumption of these facilities.

The energy usage intensity of the facilities ranged from 632 to 2,247 kWh/m2 or 8 to 17 kWh/visit. Primary and secondary indicators were examined to find the key performance indicators.

This study sheds some light into the overall energy performance of aquatic centres in the temperate climate of Australia. More samples need to be collected to perform rigorous statistical analysis leading to a reliable benchmark model. System-wise investigation of energy consumption is required to determine where the energy is being used and the saving potentials of each system.

This study has arisen from the need of managers of large aquatic and recreation facilities to benchmark the energy consumption of their own facilities. This study will fill the gap that currently exists in the area of energy rating systems for aquatic centres.

The results of this study showed that aquatic centres consume around seven times more energy than a commercial office building. Thus, if the energy consumption of aquatic centres could be reduced by as little as only 10 per cent, at least 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission can be reduced.

Environmental design standards for aquatic centres have generally been overlooked due to the complex nature of these buildings. As a result, this sector suffers from a general lack of both qualitative and quantitative information and benchmarking.

After salary and wages, facility and real estate expenditure are the largest cost items in the semi‐public sector. Especially, for long‐term care facilities, there is high‐saving potential from more efficient and effective use of property. The main purpose of this paper is an exploratory research study in order to analyse the operating costs of long‐term care facilities.

The survey is based on empirical data questionnaires, data generation and semi‐structured interviews at 18 long‐term care facilities in Tyrol, Austria carried out during Summer 2007. In order to determine the volume and to prioritize the cost drivers computer‐aided real‐estate benchmarking software was used, which was developed by the Institute of Real Estate Benchmarking at the University of Applied Sciences KufsteinTirol, Austria. Statistic analyses were conducted to investigate saving potential, determine the best case of the sample and submit recommendations to the decision makers.

The main findings are the investigation and visualization of saving potential of long‐term care facilities and identification of the volume and structure of the cost drivers and illuminated current best practices in effective building upkeep and operating costs of long‐term care facilities in Tyrol. Furthermore, the study reveals the immense saving potential in the costs of various services.

This survey is based on the operating costs of long‐term care facilities. Other running costs such as costs for healthcare personnel as well as quality indicators are not considered in this survey. Further research activities will be necessary regarding the identification of these cost drivers by the application of regression models.

Professional property management of long‐term care facilities will be shown to decrease the cost share in the healthcare sector. The results should help to establish cost benchmarking increasingly and develop it as a strategic planning tool in order to support management in the healthcare sector in the decision‐making process.

The paper presents a new measuring method, which allows an holistic view of three influencing factors, namely the amount of beds, occupancy and the space consumption, to investigate weak points in cost efficiency on one chart.

This study reveals the green building development path and analyzes the optimal government subsidy equilibrium through evolutionary game theory and numerical simulation. This was done to explore the feasible measures and optimal incentives to achieve higher levels of green building in China.

First, the practice of green building in China was analyzed, and the specific influencing factors and incentive measures for green building development were extracted. Second, China-specific evolutionary game models were constructed between developers and homebuyers under the market regulation and government incentive mechanism scenarios, and the evolutionary paths were analyzed. Finally, real-case numerical simulations were conducted, subsidy impacts were mainly analyzed and optimal subsidy equilibriums were solved.

(1) Simultaneously subsidizing developers and homebuyers proved to be the most effective measure to promote the sustainability of green buildings. (2) The sensitivity of developers and homebuyers to subsidies varied across scenarios, and the optimal subsidy level diminished marginally as building greenness and public awareness increased. (3) The optimal subsidy level for developers was intricately tied to the building greenness benchmark. A higher benchmark intensified the developer’s responsiveness to losses, at which point increasing subsidies were justified. Conversely, a reduction in subsidy might have been appropriate when the benchmark was set at a lower level.

The expeditious advancement of green buildings holds paramount importance for the high-quality development of the construction industry. Nevertheless, the pace of green building expansion in China has experienced a recent deceleration. Drawing insights from the practices of green building in China, the exploration of viable strategies and the determination of optimal government subsidies stand as imperative initiatives. These endeavors aim to propel the acceleration of green building proliferation and materialize high-quality development at the earliest juncture possible.

The model is grounded in China’s green building practices, which makes the conclusions drawn more specific. Furthermore, research results provide practical references for governments to formulate green building incentive policies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse extant literature on POE of a building’s operations and performance as a means of holistically mapping the existing body of knowledge (BOK); identify impediments preventing its wide-scale adoption throughout practice; and develop new theory that seeks to integrate digital technologies (such as building information modelling (BIM)) within facilities management (FM) via a POE feedback mechanism.

An inductive and interpretivist methodological approach is adopted that utilises a mixed methods systematic review to map bibliometric data on the POE, associated underpinning processes and benchmarking facilities. Publication and citation metrics are produced via the software VOSviewer to determine the extent to which POE interrelates with other fields of study (namely, digital technologies and FM).

The BOK accrued illustrates that whilst POE has received comparatively scant academic attention in comparison to other fields of study, interest in the area is growing. The work also identifies that a stronger community of practice (CoP) is needed (that comprises of academics and practitioners) to ensure that a consistent approach to POE implementation is developed and that the barriers to POE implementation are addressed.

Findings presented accentuate the need for design practitioners to reverse engineer POE implementation to inform future design vis-à-vis simply reporting upon an existing building’s performance post construction. Other new theories are also introduced as a means of engendering wider academic discourse in this field of science.

This paper aims to assess the facility management (FM) practices in public and private buildings, and compare the practices in both the buildings. This paper critically analysed the current FM practices and explored the range of contributions that the facility manager could offer in both public and private buildings.

A case study of 19 public and 20 private buildings in Ibadan and Akure cities was carried out in this paper.

The paper revealed that the state of FM awareness is higher in private buildings than in public buildings and that FM practices in the two types of buildings are significantly related, but the extent of usage of FM methods are significantly different in the buildings. It was also observed in the research that corrective and responsive FM practices are the order of the day in both public and private buildings.

The paper acknowledged that the involvement of the facility manager with the integrated design team if implemented efficiently will contribute in reducing the need for major repairs and alterations in the lifespan of the facility and that the practices of preventive, planned and immediate responsive approaches would better the life of buildings.

The paper recommended that stricter action should be taken to mitigate against the poor handling and misuse of buildings by users, as it affects negatively the success story of FM in the country.

This paper reached out to address the lack of proper FM in the country.