Introduction
Perfection stands for a European Coordination Action on performance indicators for health, comfort and safety of the indoor environment. The goal of this FP7 coordination action is to help enable the application of new design and technologies that improve the impact of the indoor built environment on health, comfort, the feeling of safety, and positive stimulation. In order to monitor and report on the performance of the indoor environment a set of key performance indicators is a necessity.
The project concept consists of the following components:
- Construct an inventory of standards, regulations, technologies, research activities and policies related to the indoor environment.
- Analyse current indoor performance indicators and their applicability within a generic framework, Identification of areas where new indicators for health and safety should be developed
- Collect experiences from case studies of building design and technologies exploiting the indicators in different building types.
- Identification of incentives and barriers for the wide use of performance indicators.
- Develop a roadmap and recommendations for building design and technologies and support for appropriate policies.
- Disseminate findings widely through an extensive expert network.
The project was introduced in the FP7-ENV 2007-1 call. Work started on 1st January 2009 and the project will run for 3 years. Two open workshops have been organized; a third one is scheduled for November 2010. More information on the project and events is available on the project website http://www.ca-perfection.eu.
Work in Progress
A Europe-wide network of experts and stakeholders has been set up, enabling an extensive knowledge base of European and national practices related to the indoor environment. The inventory work has been completed and a database holding standards, regulations, policies and research activities from more than 27 countries has been created. Two state-of-the art reports, one on comfort and health, the other on accessibility, feeling of safety and positive stimulation, have been finalised.
The consortium is currently defining an indicator framework and toolbox in an iterative process involving a limited number of case studies. The framework and toolbox will become the basis on which a web-enabled prototype decision support tool will be developed in the 2nd half of the project. Themes covered by the framework are indoor air quality, thermal, visual and acoustic comfort, water quality, feeling of safety and security, positive stimulation, adaptability, serviceability, and usability (including accessibility).
Policy-related work started with the 1st workshop held in Krakau in December 2009. This should lead initially to the identification of barriers to and incentives for the uptake of indicators, technologies and designs by the end of 2010. Furthermore, a user engagement report has been prepared. Besides a theoretical basis for the engagement process, the report focuses on ways to involve and interact with users in the development and operation of the Perfection tool and portal. A number of case studies referring to building industry, building users and policy makers have been developed in detail.
In the second half of 2010 the indicator framework will be optimised by an intensive interaction with users and stakeholders amongst others through a questionnaire and a workshop. Case study work and the prototype tool development are also scheduled for this period.
Contact Information
The project is being coordinated by the Belgian Building Research Institute and involves 10 members (VTT, Apintech, CTU, ARMINES, Kornadt, ICTAF, SITI, TUE, ASM and BRE). It is linked to an extensive network of 33 experts representing industry, academia and research from all over Europe.
Should you be interested please contact the coordinator: Jan Desmyter, BBRI – perfection@bbri.be