A client support system for post-occupancy design decisions in school projects

In the UK, the budgetary allocation of publicly funded education is substantial. The capital investment fund for schools gradually grew from £683 million in 1996-97, to £3.8 billion in 2003-04, and subsequently to £8.2 billion for 2010-2011. Like most buildings, schools and associated facilities are subject to dilapidation, obsolescence, deterioration and change during their service life. Therefore, they require constant upkeep and/or periodic adaptations to change the functionality or improve the performance of the building. This is why up-to-date knowledge and information flow on and about a building is crucial. Although data processing - collection, storage and retrieval - forms a part of a successful knowledge and information management which can guarantee a successful post-occupancy decision process, it is not always sufficient. What is more important is how the data informs decision and knowledge (knowing) processes. This paper reports on some findings of a research project on post-occupancy design in school projects. First of all a brief overview of key factors, and major players in post-occupancy processes will be provided. We will then establish the decision processes. Decision Support Systems (DSS) will be critically reviewed to correlate the existing context with the means which will be used to offer the most efficient system to support the decisions in post-occupancy design in school projects. The main contribution of this paper however, remains to be the collaborative processes of decisions streamlined to be utilised for creating a post-occupancy framework using the concepts of knowledge and value co-creation. Some indications of the post occupancy design information toolkit (PODIT) which has particularly been developed for this project as a knowledge/value co-creation will be used to clarify on the application of the underlying theory to develop a practical toolkit for the stakeholders in school projects.