Sustainability is gaining a rapidly increasingly importance in the field of real estate. Innovations in energy optimizing technologies and construction change the ecological impact of building construction and operation.

Currently, however, it is unclear how such changes affect the users of these buildings. The focus of this project is on the influence of sustainable office buildings on comfort, health and work performance of its users and the association users have with the building. It is necessary to examine to what extent user behavior influences the energy consumption in buildings (comparison of calculated and actual consumption), and under planned sustainability considerations, how health, user satisfaction and job performance are influenced. Science-based guidance in design and the implementation of sustainability and energy efficiency in matters of comfort and well-being for the users make a significant contribution to a sustainable society and can also lead to an increase in productivity.

Objective

The objective of this research project lies in the evidence of the impact of sustainable office buildings on health, satisfaction and job performance of the building users. About 50 percent of the workers in Switzerland work in the service sector, the vast majority of them in offices. The influence of construction methods on building user

therefore is relevant to a large part of the workers in Switzerland.

Organizations involved in the project should develop concrete measures as to how future real estate companies can, in this sense, conform to both the aspects of ecological and economic sustainability, as well as achieve the criteria of social sustainability. For this reason, the focus will not only be placed on the optimization of properties,

but rather buildings and users will be studied integrally. As an outcome of the project, the results of investigations are to be summarized into a guide for planning and operation of sustainable office buildings. This guide will describe the influences of sustainable buildings on the users and the resulting implications. Therewith newly designed and renovated office buildings will be aided in terms of sustainability and energy concepts. The acceptance and effectiveness of measures and innovations in sustainable and energy-optimized constructions is warranted, as has been shown, so that associated consequences for the users should be considered. The acceptance and the

effectiveness of measures and innovations of a sustainable and energy efficient way of constructing will be ensured by pointing out which associated user consequences are taken into account. Concrete measures are proposed, such as considering the effects of design, construction, renovation and operation, so that benefits of sustainable buildings can be optimally implemented.

Although it is written in German the guide for planning and operation of sustainable office buildings can be accessed on www.nachhaltigebueros.ch