The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has announced the launch of a groundbreaking initiative titled “Building Performance Reimagined.” This visionary project, commissioned by CIBSE and researched by Arup, aims to transform the landscape of building engineering and sustainability.
Unlike conventional engineering paradigms, Building Performance Reimagined takes a holistic, future-oriented perspective on building performance. Rather than focusing solely on system sizing, maintenance, or controls, the initiative seeks to redefine the parameters of traditional engineering practices and equip CIBSE members with the tools to meet future challenges head-on.
The theme of “Building Performance Reimagined” was also central to the Presidential Address of CIBSE’s new President, Fiona Cousins. In her address, President Cousins emphasized the importance of embracing future-focused approaches and reimagining building performance to meet evolving societal and environmental needs.
The report introduces four pivotal performance metrics designed to guide the industry towards enhanced health and resilience. These metrics include Variety, which focuses on optimizing building services to promote space efficiency, adaptability, and user diversity; Readiness, which aims to enhance building services to anticipate and mitigate risks; Connectedness, which emphasizes the integration of building services with local and wider systems to enhance responsiveness to the environment; and Emergence, which enables building services to contribute positively over time by learning and adapting as structures age.
Building Performance Reimagined expands the role of building services engineers beyond traditional boundaries. Engineers are now tasked with enhancing all aspects of life within and around buildings, including fostering biodiversity, promoting social equity through design decisions, and influencing urban contexts to harmonize with local and city infrastructures.
CIBSE invites industry professionals to embark on this transformative journey, leveraging futures and systems thinking methodologies to anticipate evolving needs, explore potential futures, and identify opportunities to shape a sustainable built environment. This forward-thinking approach aims to redefine “high performance” in buildings by emphasizing collective social value and multi-species stakeholder interests.
The Building Performance Reimagined report is available for free download at https://www.cibse.org/policy-insight/key-policy-areas/building-performance-reimagined. Industry professionals are encouraged to download and engage with this groundbreaking report to join in the journey towards a sustainable and resilient built environment.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.