Developing a weighting scheme for building operational performance: A case study from the Netherlands

Building operations must balance the often-competing performance objectives of occupants’ needs, energy efficiency, and power grid demand, posing a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem. Tailored weighting schemes offer practical approaches to synthesize these diverse performance aspects onto a common scale, effectively informing building operations and overall performance evaluations. However, such schemes remain underdeveloped. To address this gap, a stakeholder ontology was first developed to analyze power dynamics and information flows among stakeholders involved in building operational performance. Building managers were identified as key stakeholders to determine weights of such a scheme. Subsequently, building on the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) framework, a survey was conducted to calculate the weights for commercial buildings using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Inputs from 27 building managers in the Netherlands were collected, along with 13 building owners and 13 international researchers. Results showed that performance aspects were not equally weighted. Building managers prioritized occupants’ health and wellbeing, building service downtime, and occupant comfort, while assigning the lowest weight to operational cost. Building owners and researchers also agreed with these top three priorities. However, considerable individual variation in priorities was observed, even after accounting for stakeholder roles, building types, and country. These findings suggest that the SRI weighting scheme should be adapted to regional contexts and highlight the necessity for customizable building management dashboards tailored to specific building conditions. Finally, the proposed weighting scheme offers pragmatic insights to support decision making in building operations, policy development, certification systems development, and smart building control and management.