Engineering Commons^™

Making Better Decisions About Built Assets, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Craig Langston

Arguably the most important question currently facing the Australian built environment professions concerns how to make better decisions that are feasible, sustainable and in the national interest. This paper describes emerging and ongoing research using a unique multi-criteria decision analysis support model coupled with an adaptive management (or 'learning by doing') approach. The researchers are retrospectively analysing existing Australian commercial buildings to identify potential changes to the original decision-making process in the light of overall evidenced performance. The findings will provide new knowledge about the interaction of economic, social and environmental criteria in practice; so critical to the continuous improvement …