The "performance gap" is the shortfall or difference between a building's intended or designed performance, and its actual performance in use. This gap commonly refers to a building consuming more energy or emitting more greenhouse gases than predicted during the design phase. Factors contributing to this gap include:
- Poor workmanship
- Product substitution
- Lack of occupant understanding
- Discrepancies between design specifications and actual construction quality
The performance gap can be closed by:
- A robust quality assurance process such as Passivhaus
- Accurate thermal modeling and sensitivity analysis
- High-quality construction supervision
- Appropriate airtightness testing
- Post-occupancy monitoring and adjustments
Read more about how Sparran can help close the performance gap for your project here.