Planning for in-use to end-of-life

The way in which the built environment industry considers buildings in use is changing. The ‘in-use to end-of-life’ aspect of a building's life cycle is often viewed as its operation and maintenance, and is thus considered to be about driving a reduction in energy consumption through the efficient commissioning of mechanical and electrical systems, decommissioning, and the way in which a building is structurally deconstructed or reused. This chapter focuses on planning for ‘in-use to end-of-life’ (if you are an engineer working on a building already in use see Ainger and Fenner, 2014: Ch. 10).

However, alternative approaches to this traditional ‘operation and maintenance’ view are also discussed by considering how occupants can directly affect a building in-use and the way in which the building's environmental performance is affected by its wider context. Ways of creating a more sustainable building are explored by introducing the following concepts: