Steering of sustainable building in public building and renovation projects

This paper studies current public building and refurbishment processes from the point of view of a municipal client and formulates recommendations for the management of sustainable building in public building projects.The paper describes a case study of procurement of design in the city of Vantaa (the third largest city in Finland). The aim of Vantaa was to develop their procurement practices inside the frame set by the directive of public procurement. The study was performed with help of a literature survey, interviews and workshops. Based on the study, the following recommendations can be given to change or develop the practices of public building owners to achieve sustainable building:- The creation of an action plan for sustainable building to manifest the decision of sustainable building in the organisation and to guide the programming and target setting of all projects. - Selecting suitable delivery model for the project is essential and a task that needs more emphasis and competence. Different models suit different types of projects. From the multidisciplinary collaboration point of view the models that enable all relevant actors to participate in decision making early enough should be preferred. - Attaining better understanding of the use of quality based criteria in tendering processes according to the principles of public procurement. - The reinforcement of the project preparation stage. Renewal of process phases and tasks, and roles of different actors will be needed. - Adopting performance based target setting and formulation of a framework for continuous improvement of performance levels targeted. - Better utilization of building information models. BIM offer a technology for communication and interaction of project stakeholders, and for the management of sustainable building information through the life cycle of buildings. - Reinforcement of collaborative processes and owner's guidance in design.