Developments in Appraising the Total Performance of Buildings Available to Purchase

Over the past few years there has been a significant upsurge of interest in building performance and its appraisal. As the expectations and standards of property users increase, appraisers of buildings have had to develop improved evaluation methods. Building surveyors, as key technical appraisal specialists in construction, have a contribution to make in this growing field. A great deal of the extant research on building performance has been at the “micro‐level” where either individual building elements or aspects of a building′s internal environment have been critically evaluated. Such work can highlight component failures and cryptoclimate problems, but it does little to enlarge our understanding of how buildings perform overall. Discusses some of the current issues assessing the total performance of buildings. Refines the model labelled property efficiency appraisal (PEA) for evaluating the total performance of existing buildings. Considers the key factors and influences for a “macro‐level” assessment of the total performance of existing buildings and points the way ahead.