Building satisfaction - using thermal modelling to identify areas of building use focus for post occupancy evaluation

Buildings do not perform as modelled. There are many reasons for this, for example change of scope, functions, assumptions, weather, user behaviour and so forth. This paper investigates the latter. It turns the use of Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) around and asks: what is the impact of people on building performance?  Based on IES modelling, the researchers identified those areas of performance that were sensitive to user behaviour and used the process of post occupancy evaluation to observe this as well as the standard elements related to user satisfaction. Using a small City of Melbourne community building, we report on the difference between expected and actual performance and report on the importance of user behaviour. We also present this novel approach to designing a POE.