1 Scope

This British Standard specifies requirements for three levels of buildingperformance evaluation plus an additional supplementary level:

a) Preliminary Evaluation (PE): the lightest entry level evaluation using readily available data and information plus occupant feedback;
b) Light BPE: a basic BPE study and the lightest level to take account of internal environmental monitoring;
c) Standard BPE: a good all-round study based on more granular data enabling greater insight and a good basis for decision making and further performance investigations;

and, additionally:
d) Investigative BPE: allows for additional investigative elements to be pursued in parallel or following any of the three levels listed above and for all types of study to be structured, conducted and reported consistently.

NOTE 1 Elements from higher levels of study can be added to any of the lowest two levels, PE and Light BPE, as required, to fulfil the purpose of the study.

This British Standard is relevant to all types and uses of buildings, at any point(s) during the “in-use” phase of their lives, including, but not limited to:

1) a development of individual homes that has been recently constructed with homes sold to private individuals;
2) a cohort of similar dwellings, pre- and post-upgrade to establish a baseline performance and then to verify improvements;
3) a portfolio of public buildings to support a business case for investment; and
4) a recently completed commercial building where the owner wishes to check that the specified performance has been achieved.

NOTE 2 “As built” performance of a newly constructed or upgraded building, prior to occupation might differ from the “in-use” performance once occupants have moved in. Completion stage (prior to occupation) studies are not covered by this British Standard.

NOTE 3 Evaluation in this British Standard is based on actual quantitative and qualitative data obtained through testing, measurement, monitoring, observations and reported experience.

NOTE 4 Actual data is compared against context-relevant reference cases (comparator cases) thus enabling the evaluator to report on individual and interdependent aspects of the performance of the building and thereby to draw conclusions pertinent to the objectives of the BPE project.

This British Standard specifies requirements for:

i) the planning of BPE studies, including timing and content;
ii) the choice of comparator cases;
iii) data gathering relevant to the BPE project level, through documentation review, test and measurement, monitoring, experiential feedback and observations;
iv) the derivation and reporting of gathered and derived performance parameter data;
v) comparison of gathered data and derived performance data with equivalent comparator case data;
vi) the interpretation of individual, interdependent and whole system results;
vii) requirements for data naming and retention; and
viii) reporting and compliance claims.

This British Standard does not include minimum or desirable values for directly obtained performance parameters (e.g. measured temperature) or for performance parameters derived from measured data (e.g. energy use per m²).

NOTE 5 Many sources are available that provide guidance on “what good looks like” and are updated on an irregular basis, including The Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) (https://aecb.net/) and Passive House (https://passivehouse-international.org/index.php) standards on energy intensity and water use; World Health Organisation (https://www.who.int/), BS EN 16798‑1 [B] and forthcoming BS 401022)guidance on indoor environmental conditions; relevant building regulations and CIBSE publications on air tightness and ventilation rates (https://www.cibse.org/). To provide assistance to the users of this British Standard, many of these sources are signposted where the evaluation of specific aspects of performance is addressed.

BS 40101:2022

Building performance evaluation of occupied and operational buildings (using data gathered from tests, measurements, observation and user experience). Specification

Current

Published:

31 Jan 2022