Developing a decision-making tool for the sustainable renovation of office buildings.

The built environment plays a significant role in climate change. While the construction of new
sustainable buildings is important, their impact is diminished if existing buildings with high energy
consumption are not renovated. Unfortunately, the rate of renovation, particularly towards
sustainable practices, is still inadequate. Besides that, The IPCC emphasizes the urgent need to
integrate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies into building practices to effectively
address the challenges posed by climate change.
This study provides a first approach to integrate climate mitigation and adaption in a decision-making tool for the sustainable renovation of office buildings. The tool provides a guide for
building owners and users in decision making to accelerate the sustainable building renovations.
The tool was developed using the design science cycle, which divided the research into three
steps: (1) the problem investigation, (2) requirements design and tool development, (3) tool
validation by users.
This study highlights differences between standard sustainable renovations and renovations
specifically designed to incorporate climate adaptation and mitigation. It shows that adaptation is
often misinterpreted as simply adapting a building to the needs of the user, rather than
addressing broader climate resilience. Additionally, decision-makers must understand potential
trade-offs and synergies between strategies to minimize conflicts and maximize benefits. The
study also finds that existing sustainability assessment tools frequently neglect the perspectives of
building users and may not comprehensively address all aspects of sustainability.
Building on these insights, the study developed a decision-making tool. This tool expands upon
existing models by incorporating climate adaptation and mitigation alongside the traditional
social, economic, and environmental sustainability domains. Moreover, it emphasizes
collaborative use by building owners and users, ensuring designs that meet user needs and
minimize vacancy. The tool follows a three-step process: (1) Building Diagnosis: Assess the current
state of the office building, (2) Goal setting & criteria weighing: Use the ”Best-Worst” method to
prioritize criteria and define goals, (3) Design alternatives assessment: develop and compare
alternative renovation designs. The last step will select the design that best aligns with
established goals and provides insight into decision impacts. The tool includes a matrix of trade-offs, co-benefits and synergies to clarify the interactions between different criteria. Validation by
building users confirmed the tool’s effectiveness and practicality in addressing climate challenges
and enhancing sustainability in office building renovations