ABSTRACT
The project team has been closely involved with the building over many months, or even years, and has grown from just client to include design team, contractor and the building managers, who have inherited responsibility of understanding in theory how it should perform. Effective decisions that impact on performance in use can only be made in the light of reliable information and then their impact must be monitored, reviewed and revisited. The Soft Landings Framework published in 2009 has been adopted by the Cabinet Office of the UK government for all future governmental projects. Soft Landings incorporates both initial aftercare and extended aftercare Post-occupancy Evaluation stages, which recognise the benefits to building managers and property owners of optimising the performance of their buildings. The Soft Landings Framework developed from the recognition that design and construction teams seldom retained much involvement in their buildings after completion and yet they were best placed to support building managers in optimising their new asset.
