Augmenting Audits

Abstract

Audits are commonly carried out by facilities managers (FMs) to quantify the sustainability and performance of the buildings they manage, informing improvements to infrastructure for resource and cost savings, and assessing compliance with standards and legislation. The scope for what can be audited is limited by available infrastructure. In this article, we investigate the utility of a flexible sensor toolkit to enhance existing energy auditing practices. We present findings from a qualitative study with FM and student auditor participants from 3 organisations. Our study covers how these toolkits were used and integrated into auditing practices within these organisations, and the opportunities and issues for resource management that arose as a result. We conclude with design implications for toolkits to support sensor-augmented audits, make recommendations towards a deployment protocol for sensor toolkits used in this context, and develop broader considerations for how future standards and policies might be adapted to leverage this potential.

"No powers, man!": A Student Perspective on Designing University Smart Building Interactions

“…Verma et al [54] report on the use of a pervasive sensing system to understand how space is used in buildings. Mitchell Finnigan et al [42] also considered the role of sensors in the auditing practices of building managers. In their case, they were concerned with the design a wireless sensor toolkit to support auditing practices for evaluating building performance and ensuring standards compliance.…”

“…Although techniques such as post-occupancy evaluation [10] exist as a method of directly engaging with building users, they are limited in that they are not used in an ongoing manner over the lifetime of the building. While students are lay-experts on the building [42], they have no formal training in facilities management: the perspectives of other building stakeholders will be valuable in order to bolster their knowledge and correct misconceptions [28]. Moreover, although participants were able to describe and discuss the pain-points of their experience (as in our finding on Negotiating Shared Spaces) these are difficult to get at for facilities managers through traditional feedback processes such as making a complaint [16].…”

Designing for diverse stakeholder engagement in resource-intensive practices

“…Such technology may support dialogue between office staff and energy decision makers [3], negotiations of thermal comfort in relation to energy use [6], and detection of problems related to thermal comfort and the energy systems [2]. However, while increased access to energy data in office buildings can support facilities management in many ways, it also comes with risks of reinforcing power imbalances between facilities managers and office occupants [10].…”

“…One type of service that housing cooperatives often hire professionals to carry out is building management. This type of building management is, however, very different from the facilities management of office buildings studied for example in [10], which focuses on energy optimisations. Typically, building managers help housing cooperatives with tasks such as replacing broken light bulbs and changing nametags on doors when residents move.…”

“…In line with Toyama [39], who stress the limitations of technology in creating social change, we regard technology mainly as an amplifier of other activities. This is not new to Sustainable HCI, where technology has been explored for example as amplifiers of professional energy management [10] or of community efforts to support households in eco-efficient retrofitting [24].…”