The arrival of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (UK NZCBS) could mark the construction industry’s transition from designing and building for elemental compliance with a host of regulations that deliver exemplary but achievable operational performance standards.
However, achieving ambitious outcome-based performance needs a methodology to prevent a performance gap opening between original design intentions and operational outcomes. The RIBA Plan for Use guide details the activities at each work stage that are needed to keep design intentions on track to deliver desired outcomes.
The guide is embedded within the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 and RIBA recommends using it as part of standard processes on all projects.
The guide is also seen as complementary to the Sustainable Outcomes Guide, which provides key metrics, design principles and verification methods for each of the core outcomes.
Just as Sustainable Outcomes can be referenced and used at inception and briefing to become the first action of the Plan for Use, increasingly the NZCBS will be referenced to establish performance outcomes.
What is the Plan for Use guide?
Plan for Use is RIBA’s interpretation of the Soft Landings Framework produced by the Usable Buildings Trust and Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) to encourage a more outcome-based approach to briefing, design, construction, and handover. BSRIA describes Soft Landings as both a building delivery process and a project performance improvement process, which should run through a project from inception to completion and beyond.
The Plan for Use guide identifies activities required at each RIBA work-stage and outlines how to apply Plan for Use on different forms of contract. The guide includes case studies to illustrate practical applications in a range of projects, sectors, and scales.
Plan for Use can be treated like a Plan of Work overlay with methodologies to call upon at every stage. For instance, to prevent an energy performance gap opening up, Plan for Use calls for energy modelling to be revisited periodically beyond RIBA Stage 2, and for fine tuning of building systems at Stage 7 to meet original targets.
As clients increasingly demand net zero-carbon buildings, it is anticipated that continual energy modelling will feature increasingly in professional appointments.
The objective will be to ensure that performance targets are re-visited and reality-checked during detailed design and that any variations do not compromise these targets.
What's in the Plan for Use guide?
Plan for Use can be divided into three component areas:
- Set realistic and measurable targets
The client, design team, and end users are called upon to place greater focus on defining performance outcomes or targets as part of the Project Brief. This includes measurable values on energy consumption, embodied and operational carbon, water, and waste as well as “softer” measures like user comfort and well-being.
- Complete Plan for Use activities
The activities described in the Plan for Use guide will help to ensure that both the design and its construction are capable of meeting the agreed targets. These should be revised as necessary, as the understanding of the design and the client requirements develops over the course of a project.
A record of performance risks is used to manage the aspects of design, procurement, and construction that might adversely affect the efficient running of the building in use, and to review progress against mitigating these risks.
- Measure and feedback
There are commitments to measuring and evaluating the performance of the building in use to understand the extent to which targets have been met; to allow the building and its services to be fine-tuned; and to provide valuable learning to inform future projects.
Read more about the significance of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard
What is Post Occupancy Evaluation?
A key aspect of Plan for Use is Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE). There is extensive RIBA guidance that architects can follow in this area including:
- RIBA POE Primer
- Housing Fit For Purpose Performance, Feedback and Learning
- Building Knowledge: Pathways to POE
- POE: an Essential Tool for the Built Environment.
At project inception, the architect or project manager is usually best placed to instigate a conversation with the client, explaining how Plan for Use works and the key benefits, including better occupant satisfaction and productivity, lower operating costs, and reduced carbon emissions.
While the benefits from Plan for Use will be maximised when it is adopted at the earliest opportunity (Stage 0 or Stage 1), with some types of procurement the opportunity may not present itself until later, such as when an architect joins a project at Stage 4. In spite of this, the adoption of Plan for Use will still be valuable.
Download the RIBA Plan for Use.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas
RIBA Core curriculum topic: Sustainable architecture.
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