Sustainability in Public Facilities: Analysis of Guidance Documents

Abstract

With increasing evidence that sustainable design and construction results in more energy-efficient, lower-cost, less environmentally damaging, and more occupant-friendly facilities, organizations have begun to seek guidance on integrating concepts of sustainability into their capital programs. A growing number of guidance documents have been developed to support these sustainability efforts. While these documents contain a broad spectrum of information on sustainable buildings, they are not necessarily written or organized suitably for stakeholders associated with the postconstruction phases of the facility life cycle. This paper presents a critical parametric analysis of nine such documents intended to educate facility decision makers on sustainability. The analysis revealed that these documents, with some exceptions, do not address all of their intended audiences equally, with most information focusing on designers and owners and comparatively less information targeted to others such as facilities managers. Given the crucial role facilities managers play in ensuring the ongoing sustainable performance of facilities, there is a need to modify or extend existing guidance documents to better address the needs of facilities managers.