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The purpose of this event, jointly organised by Sust. and SEDA, held at The Lighthouse, Glasgow, 15 September 2009, was to bring together the leading experts within the UK to explore the origins and growth of Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) and more importantly the role of POE in contributing towards improved building performance in the future.

Post Occupancy Evaluation is rapidly becoming recognised as the vital final step in a construction project where the lessons learned can be used to improve the performance of the completed building and improve the clients understanding of their future needs and performance requirements.

In simple terms, why wouldn’t you want to know how your building performs? And if you think you have already found the answer, wouldn\'t you want to check this out objectively and apply that information to future buildings? This event was aimed at those who were both new to the subject and keen to know more, as well as those who already see POE as an opportunity to vastly improve the economic, social and environmental performance of the built environment in Scotland.

The education sector leads the way and Scotland is at the forefront in mainstreaming POE. Recently the Scottish Funding Council made it mandatory for all new further and higher educational establishments to undertake POE on new buildings as part of the funding requirements. In addition the Scottish Government is collecting data on a number of schools built or refurbished between 1999 and 2009 – and has already published 35 case studies – see the Scottish Government website for further information.

The event brought together a range of contributors leading the field in POE research and the use of POE in building modelling including Oxford Brookes University, Usable Buildings Trust, BRE, Bennetts Associates as well as input from SEDA, RIAS and views from clients and recent research by Sust. into the use of building data and what gets done with it once collected. Also featured were examples from elsewhere in Europe and in the UK with contributions from the speakers/ presenters as well as opportunities for questions and contributions from SEDA members who have successfully carried out POE on different types and scales of buildings.