This paper provides a critical review of developments in the adaptability of buildings. Its purpose is to determine the current ‘state-of-the-art’, describe current thinking and trends in research and practice, and identify issues and gaps that further research can address. It provides a basis for a scientific and practical understanding of the interdependencies across different design criterion. The paper increases the awareness of architects, engineers, clients and users on the importance of adaptability and its role in lowering impacts over the lifecycle of buildings as part of the infrastructure system.\ud This paper draws mainly from the literature as its source of evidence. These were identified from established databases and search engines (e.g. Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar) using key words such as adaptability, adaptable, adaptation, and flexibility. Over 80 sources including books, journal papers, conference proceedings, research reports and doctoral theses covering the period 1990 to 2017 were reviewed and categorised. An inductive approach was used to critically review and categorise these publications and develop a framework for analysis.\ud The concept of adaptability includes many dimensions which can broadly fall into two categories: changes to buildings and user adaptations to buildings. However, previous research has mostly focused on the former, with many attempts to identify building attributes that facilitate adaptability, and some considerations for its assessment. Key areas that have not been adequately addressed and which require further research include: user/occupant adaptations, cost, benefits and implications of various adaptability measures, and the development of a standardised assessment methodology that could aid in decision making in the design stage of buildings.\ud The adaptability strategies considered in this review focused mainly on building components and systems, and did not include the contribution of intelligent and smart/biological systems. The coverage is further limited in scope due to the period considered (1990-2017) and the exclusion of terms such as “retrofit” and “refurbishment” from the review. However, the findings provide a solid basis for further research in the areas identified above. It identifies research issues and gaps in knowledge between the defined needs and current state-of-the-art on adaptive building for both research and practice.\ud This paper is a review of research into a highly topical subject, given the acknowledged need to adapt buildings over their lifecycle to environmental, economic or social changes. It provides further insights on the dimensions of adaptability and identifies areas for further research that will contribute to the development of robust tools for the assessment of building adaptability, which will enhance the decision-making process of building design and the development of a more sustainable built environment

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A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study shows that all stakeholders in the capital facilities industry waste a huge amount of money looking for, validating, and/or recreating facility information that should be readily available. The total cost of these activities within the capital facilities industries in the United States was conservatively estimated at $15.8 billion in 2002, with two-thirds of that cost occurring during the facilities' operations and maintenance phase. This is confirmed by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Maintenance Survey in 2009, which states that the loss of information generates an added cost of 12.4% of total annual mean O&M costs. Nowadays, standards and specifications have been developed about availability, integrity, and transfer of data and information during the operational phase of an asset life. PAS 1192-3, among these, suggests the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) models to store and access facility information, but the turning point is the ability to provide different stakeholders with different data, which should be targeted to them, easily accessible, readable, and updatable (and up to date). This research started with the collection of asset managers' needs and then the definition of new procedures for assets and facility management in a BIM-based workflow focusing on how to allow users to access, use, and update facility data stored in a BIM model without a BIM authoring tool. Examples are shown for: (1) management of rooms occupancy; (2) management of mechanical equipment status; (3) qualitative condition assessment of buildings; and (4) appraisal of the service life of building components and systems according to ISO 15686-8. These four tools allow to compute and control some key indicators of the asset, with also the possibility to compare them inside a portfolio. This paper presents the four tools, paying also attention to the workflows to be followed and to the different data needs of the stakeholders involved.

The EU Green Deal, beginning in 2019, promoted a roadmap for operating the transition to a sustainable EU economy by turning climate issues and environmental challenges into opportunities in all policy areas and making the transition fair and inclusive for all. Focusing on the built environment, the voluntary adoption of rating systems for sustainability assessment is growing, with an increasing market value, and is perceived as a social responsibility both by public administration and by private companies. This paper proposes a framework for shifting from a static sustainability assessment to a digital twin (DT)-based and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled dynamic approach. This new approach allows for a real-time evaluation and control of a wide range of sustainability criteria with a user-centered point of view. A pilot building, namely, the eLUX lab cognitive building in the University of Brescia, was used to test the framework with some sample applications. The educational building accommodates the daily activities of the engineering students by constantly interacting with the sensorized asset monitoring indoor comfort and air quality conditions as well as the energy behavior of the building in order to optimize the trade-off with renewable energy production. The framework is the cornerstone of a methodology exploiting the digital twin approach to support the decision processes related to sustainability through the whole building’s life cycle.