Stakeholder Decision Making in Passivhaus Design

The design and construction of a building is inherently complex and a myriad of decisions must be made during the design and planning process. No single stakeholder (architect, client, building physicist) has complete knowledge and visibility of the consequences of each decision and each stakeholder group is driven by different objectives.

Those aspiring to construct low-energy buildings, and Passivhaus in particular, are subject to numerous constraints, relating to building performance, site restrictions and planning policy (amongst others) and seemingly innocuous small changes to the design can divert decision- makers from their aims.

Multi-criteria decision making provides a method of attempting to satisfy numerous, often conflicting objectives, in order to reach the 'optimum' solution, and therefore provides a means to combine these varied goals. Existing research in the sphere of building performance simulation often focuses on its application to quantitative criteria.

This paper proposes incorporating stakeholder preference modelling in multi-criteria decision making by first analysing stakeholder goals, to gain a greater understanding of their motivation and decision paths, within the context of Passivhaus construction in the UK.