Research and Evidence-based standards: Research and standards in combined efforts for a sustainable transformation of the built environment

Abstract

Standards for products, processes and management systems are important tools for the much-needed sustainable transformation of the built environment. With standards, we refer to documents coming from standardisations bodies such as ASTM/ANSI (USA), BSI (UK), CEN (Europe), and ISO (global). The purpose is to investigate the role standards play in current research to exemplify various ways CIB and standardisation bodies can combine efforts for a sustainable transformation of the built environment (BE). Scientific journal articles were identified though literature review. The paper focuses on the building's use and operation phase and especially the new Facility Management (FM) standards (ISO 41000 series) developed by the technical committee ISO/TC267. Our findings are based on a closer analysis of 10 journal articles from 2010-2021 after identifying 198 relevant articles. The articles refer to a broad range of standards which proves the relevance of standards in building research. There are no proves of how research has influenced standards, only examples of research aiming to enhance standards. Improving and implementing international FM standards is a driver to improve the BE sustainability. CIB and the standardisation bodies have an important role to accelerate the societal transition processes and contributing to society's demands of sustainability and resilience.