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The paper consists of two parts: the first contains an introduction to building technology of what is known as “sustainable development”, and the second part seeks to apply the principles of the “sustainable development” to renovation of large‐sized element buildings.

The development of sustainable facilities management (FM) practices requires active and integrated engagement of the FM organization. Building on a three-year research project (2015-2018) within Nordic Built that aims to strengthen FM competencies in the Scandinavian countries, this paper aims to list and document the challenges and barriers of implementing sustainability as identified by the Scandinavian FM practitioners who took part in this research.

The paper builds on the understanding gained from using an interpretive sociological approach and uses qualitative mixed methods to collect data from four workshops, group sessions and expert group discussions with a mix of representatives including owners, property managers, facilities managers, consultants, teachers and academics. Four case studies were completed of refurbishment projects implementing sustainable solutions; these encompassed in-depth interviews with the stakeholders, site visits, observations of meetings and gathering project documentation. The data were complemented by a systematic literature review on a selection of topics focusing on articles referring directly to FM, the sustainability of FM, ends-user and stakeholder involvement, energy performance and sustainability. The challenges and barriers identified in practice were compared to those found in the literature.

The concept of sustainability, and its different dimensions and implications, seems to be well understood now by the practitioners who participated in this study, who claimed they were able to provide the required solutions. What seems to be lacking, though, is the possibility of convincing the end-users, who are expected to operate and maintain the facilities, to act according to the standards that these solutions require. It appears to be easier to focus on the technical aspects than on the end-users’ behaviors. The practitioners reported a shortage of social competencies and tools to deal with the situation, and despite an increasing awareness of smart technology, they lacked solutions to engage the end-users in optimizing the facilities. Besides, not all FM companies were well equipped to face the challenges imposed by the sustainable agenda; the small and medium enterprises in particular seemed to be struggling to implement the different dimensions of sustainability.

The limitation of this research rests in the chosen research approach as it focuses on the FM practitioners. The contribution of the end-users’ perspective is not strongly represented or systematically explored, but is identified as a new topic that needs to be investigated further to provide further insight. This study focuses on refurbishment and/or retrofit of existing buildings and the operation of facilities. The authors do not embrace the design phase or the construction phase of new buildings.

The paper underlines the need for frameworks and concrete tools to help FM practitioners to integrate the social and cultural aspects of sustainability. It identifies end-users, both in housing and in offices, as creating a bottleneck to the implementation of sustainable FM. To gain insight into this bottleneck, the authors suggest implementing a sociologically inspired method using an integrative approach. Highlighting such issues will mean that future research will be able to define further solutions for managing and maintaining existing and future built assets and fulfilling sustainability requirements by engaging end-users. This study also emphasizes the need to introduce these topics as part of the curriculum for FM education.

This paper provides an update on the level of the development of sustainable FM in the three Scandinavian countries. This is highly relevant for Scandinavian practitioners, but the authors consider this relevant for international practitioners, researchers, academics and teachers and developers as well. Practitioners and researchers are invited to join in these efforts to explore how to find practical frameworks, tools, policies and instruments and new services that will improve sustainable FM practices.

Efficient and effective knowledge transfer is important in complex building renovation projects. The addition of sustainability requirements in building renovation adds complexity. This paper aims to investigate the development of innovative public procurement schemes to support sustainable building renovation projects. These blueprints for procurement innovation can support similar efforts in other countries.

This study is based on a longitudinal case study using interviews with primary stakeholders and workshops with industry practitioners to supplement the analysis of public tender documents from the Danish public building clients.

The key tenants of the Danish model for strategic partnerships are a single strategic partner, systematic conflict resolution, framework agreements, risk management and joint educational programs. Three phases in the development of the procurement scheme are identified: experiment, definition and replication.

Strategic partnerships and other types of relational contract schemes are not very prevalent in most countries. How these contracts are developed and defined is not well understood. This paper shows how one such contracting scheme is developed, how it is defined and replicated.

Estimates show that close to 90% of the buildings we will need in 2050 are already built and occupied. The increase in the existing building stock has affected energy consumption thereby negatively impacting the environment. The purpose of this paper is to assess determinants of sustainable upgrade of existing buildings through the adoption and application of sustainable technologies. The study also ranks sustainable technologies adopted by the professionals who participated in the survey with an in-built case study.

As part of the overall methodology, a detailed literature review on the nature and characteristics of sustainable upgrade and the sustainable technologies adopted was undertaken. A survey questionnaire with an in-built case study was designed to examine all the sustainable technologies adopted to improve energy consumption in Australia. The survey was administered to sustainability consultants, architects, quantity surveyors, facility managers and engineers in Australia.

The results show a total of 24 technologies which are mostly adopted to improve energy consumption in existing buildings. A factor analysis shows the main components as: lighting and automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HAVC) systems and equipment, envelope, renewable energy and passive technologies.

The findings bridge the gap in the literature on the adoption and application of sustainable technologies to upgrade existing buildings. The technologies can be adopted to reduce the excessive energy consumption patterns in existing buildings.

The aim of this review article is to identify a number of key research efforts related to decision making tools in building refurbishment projects and selected energy efficiency efforts in the built environment. Following these findings a proposed research area with focus on energy in the building environment will be suggested for further investigation.

Through a multilateral review study, a number of major research efforts in sustainable refurbishment are highlighted. The necessity of directing future research towards energy conservation is illustrated for a specific approach to developing the built environment.

The findings of this article identify high performance thermal insulation solutions as one of the promising approaches to significant energy consumption reductions in buildings.

This review study is solely limited to the revisited research directions.

This study successfully identifies a number of decision making tools related to building refurbishment and an initial research path in favor of building energy consumption reductions.

This study aims to focus on the sustainability of prefabricated medical emergency buildings (PMEBs) renovation after the epidemic, to address the problem that large numbers of PMEBs may be abandoned for losing their original architectural functions. This study develops an evaluation system to identify and measure sustainable factors for PMEBs’ renovation schemes. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of PMEBs’ renovation scheme was conducted based on cloud model evaluation method and selected the renovation scheme in line with sustainable development. The study promotes evaluation methods and decision-making basis for the renovation design of global PMEBs and realizes the use-value of building functions again.

By referring to the existing literature, design standards and expert visiting a set of evaluation index systems which combines the renovation of the PMEBs and the sustainability concept has been established, which calculates the balanced optimal comprehensive weight of each indicator utilizing combination weighting method, and quantifies the qualitative language of different PMEBs’ renovation schemes by experts through characteristics of the cloud model. This paper takes Huoshenshan hospital a representative PMEB during the epidemic period as an example, to verify the feasibility of the cloud model evaluation method.

The research results of this paper are that in the PMEBs’ renovation scheme structural reformative (T11) and corresponding nature with the original building (T13) have the most important influence; the continuity of architectural cultural value (T22) and regional development coherence (T23) are the key factors affecting the social dimension; the profitability of renovated buildings (T34) is the key factor affecting the economic dimension; the environmental impact (T41), resource utilization (T42) and ecological technology (T43) are the key factors in the environmental dimension.

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by supplementing a set of scientific evaluation methods to make up for the sustainability measurement of PMEBs’ renovation scheme. The main objective was to make renovated PMEBs meet the needs of urban sustainable development, retain the original cultural value of the buildings, meanwhile enhance their social and economic value and realize the renovation with the least impact on the environment.

Building owners are encouraged to reduce the energy consumption both in order to contribute to national energy saving goals and to reduce the costs of heating and operation of buildings. However, it is important to pursue the most optimal strategy to achieve cost-effective energy use while maintaining other values. Building managers often do not have the time or expertise to make a proper evaluation of the available options, hence there is a need for practical methodologies for evaluation of renovation alternatives. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Renobuild, a systematic approach for evaluating renovation alternatives based on sustainability criteria are under development. It aims to compare renovation alternatives from an environmental, economic and social perspective. To verify the methodology it has been used to evaluate different renovation alternatives for a multi-family apartment building in Sweden.

The study showed that building managers are provided with a clear comparison between different renovation alternatives from a sustainability perspective. Using Renobuild or similar methodologies may highlight renovation measures which marginally increases the investments, but can lead to significant environmental and social benefits.

So far the methodology has only been tested on a limited number of buildings in Sweden. More buildings will need to be tested for further verification.

Not many tools or methodologies exist which address several aspects of sustainability. Renobuild is a practical methodology that can help building owners to increase focus on sustainability.

Proper performance assessment of residential building renovation is crucial to sustainable urban development. However, a comprehensive review of the literature in this research domain is lacking. This study aims to uncover the study trend, research hotspots, prominent contributors, research gaps and directions in this field.

With a hybrid review approach adopted, relevant literature was examined in three stages. In Stage 1, literature retrieved from Scopus was screened for their relevance to the study topic. In Stage 2, bibliographic data of the shortlisted literature underwent scientometric analyses by the VOSviewer software. Finally, an in-depth qualitative review was made on the key literature.

The research hotspots in performance assessment of residential building renovation were found: energy efficiency, sustainability, thermal comfort and life cycle assessment. After the qualitative review, the following research gaps and future directions were unveiled: (1) assessments of retrofits incorporating renewable energy and energy storage systems; (2) evaluation of policy options and financial incentives to overcome financial constraints; (3) establishment of reliable embodied energy and carbon datasets; (4) indoor environment assessment concerning requirements of COVID-19 prevention and involvement of water quality, acoustic insulation and daylighting indicators; and (5) holistic decision-making model concerning residents' intentions and safety, health, well-being and social indicators.

Pioneered in providing the first comprehensive picture of the assessment studies on residential building renovations, this study contributes to offering directions for future studies and insights conducive to making rational decisions for residential building renovations.

Holistic renovation of historic and heritage buildings involving different stakeholders has the potential to reduce environmental impact. Climate change concerns are emphasizing environmental issues of cultural built heritage leading to new policies, guidelines and methods dealing with the challenge on how to lessen the environmental impact of built heritage without damaging its cultural significance. The purpose of this paper is to review existing international and New Zealand holistic guidelines for renovation of historic and heritage buildings.

A systematic review is used to identify international projects, methods and criteria within the holistic approach. Secondly, the New Zealand context is explored and compared with best international practices.

For instance, in New Zealand one increasingly important issue is the many vacant heritage and historic buildings in provincial town centres that need action to deal with building code seismic changes. Upgrades and adaptive reuse are opportunities to make them more sustainable and climate change resilient. However, the lack of national holistic guidelines regarding the challenge of reducing environmental impact whilst keeping the heritage values is a critical gap which urgently needs to be resolved. The need is further increased within the context of the recently passed Zero Carbon Act 2019, which aims for national zero carbon emissions by 2050.

These shared responsibilities for conserving historic and heritage buildings to maintain life in provincial towns on one hand, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the other, have the potential to contribute to a sustainable development of cities and communities.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how decisions are taken in the early stages of a renovation project, up to the design brief, leading up to the decisions on how to proceed with the renovation in the design phase. Although many technical solutions are visualised in the design phase, it is in the early evaluations of needs and demands, leading up to the design brief, that set the requirements for viable solutions in the design and production phases.

The study was carried out as a longitudinal case study of the planning phases of a school renovation. The studied buildings were researched by document analysis and by attending meetings over a four-year period between the building owners and the municipality.

Aspects such as technical status, energy use and indoor environment in the buildings were not discussed to any great extent. A few inventories were carried out in the buildings to establish their technical and accessibility status. The aspects mainly discussed in the studied renovation project have been: accessibility, functionality with respect to teaching and learning requirements in addition to architectural and cultural values.

This study illustrates the comprehensive analysis needed when renovating a building and on difficulties of addressing and evaluating all the viable aspects of concern. It also shows that this planning for a renovation is not a straight line but rather a process where conditions are continuously changing.