Amorocho, J A P and Hartmann, T (2020) Decision-making process to select energy-efficient renovation alternatives for residential buildings: Two case studies. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 36th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-8 September 2020, Online Event, UK.
Abstract
In the EU, buildings consume 41% of the final energy and are responsible for almost half of CO2 emissions. Since new buildings account just for 1% of the stock, the largest opportunity to implement energy efficiency in urban areas comes from the renovation of existing buildings. Approximately 75% of them are considered energy-inefficient. Therefore, it is necessary to support stakeholders to choose suitable renovation alternatives. Most of the decision-making frameworks for choosing renovation strategies are based on literature reviews, researches suggestions, individual experts or certification schemes (originally developed for new buildings). While decisions in new buildings involve just a few stakeholders, one particularity in renovation projects is the involvement of final users, building manager and many others. They play a relevant role, in some cases are responsible for voting to approve the renovation strategy. Therefore, a closer study of the decision-making process in practical renovation cases is required. It is necessary to understand who participates, what criteria decision-makers consider, how they assess the alternatives, and what methods they implement to choose the final solution. This paper studies how decision-making is performed in renovation projects. We conducted semi-structured interviews to analyze three real residential case studies: a group of 12 multi-family apartment blocks in Spain, a building in Germany, and a four-building complex in France. The main findings are used to identify a timeline of the decision-making process, stakeholders involved, common objectives, criteria, and alternatives assessment methods. Then, we contrast these elements with the approaches presented in the literature to identify gaps that may be covered by a decision-making framework closer to renovation projects. This analysis may help to support the development of decision-making tools aligned with common practices of decision-makers, the information and criteria they have access to, and strategies to consider the preference of the multiple stakeholders involved.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building renovation; energy efficiency; decision-making; case study |
| Index terms: | Spain, strategy, literature review, decision-making process, energy efficiency, residential building, interview, France, manager, certification, CO2 emissions, case study, preference, building renovation, urban area, renovation, decision-making, Germany |
| Subjects: | construction type, data collection methods, air quality, practitioner, sustainability and energy, data analysis and analytics, management, renovation and retrofit, urban form and morphology, decision-making and reasoning, Geography, decision analysis, asset management, administrative processes |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Urban Studies, Sustainability, Construction Technology, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here