High Performanc Buildings Quality Assessment

The focus of the research project “life cycle improvement of the building quality” (“LQG”), financed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and six industry partners is to develop, analyze and evaluate methods to assess planning decisions with their consequences on the life time of a building [1]. The project has two main outputs. One is the creation of a common database on building life cycle data as well economical as ecological, the other is a comprehensive guideline on sustainable building. The “Database of Quality” follows the initial idea that a holistic improvement of the quality of buildings over their entire life cycle can be achieved by adding quality assurance methods with one aim in mind, the contentment of the user of a building. Building certification systems are one possibility to get a higher level of quality performance [2]. From one partner in the project – FH Wels – a lot of quality assurance methods from different certification tools were tested. These studies are put into the comprehensive guideline. The guideline is structured on the life cycle of a building and contains defined time slots, where decisions are necessary and what information will be helpful for a decision maker. The focus of the common database will lie on facts, which have to be estimated during the planning of the building. This comprehensive guideline is placed in an internet portal, which gives quick access to the scientific data that will be presented online.