Factors influencing flexibility in buildings

Abstract

Purpose

Activity‐suited buildings create effective processes in a business. Building adaptation has a limited time perspective; suited premises need to change over time, in order to keep up with the processes in using a building. In an ideal situation, owners, clients and users, based on a demand for effortless adaptability, would be able to transform the building when it is needed. This puts high demand on the adaptability in a building, i.e. flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to provide other decision‐makers with a tool to validate information regarding flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper identifies “flexibility factors” and investigages how the factors are influencing the adaptability. In order to validate the importance of the factors, they are placed in order of precedence and processed using factor analysis.

Findings

From a municipal and socio‐economic viewpoint, there are advantages in more flexible buildings. To build and administer sites over the total building life can increase the flexibility of buildings and, used widely, should increase the opportunity to use the nation's property more effectively than from an ordinary viewpoint.

Originality/value

The results will be relevant for the whole construction sector.

Citation

Israelsson, N. and Hansson, B. (2009), "Factors influencing flexibility in buildings", Structural Survey, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 138-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/02630800910956461