The influence of demographic and locational factors on occupants’ perception scores for their buildings

The authors and their collaborators have surveyed the 4,662 occupants of 57 medium sized commercial and institutional buildings around the world. All were surveyed using the BUS Methodology’s standard two-page questionnaire. The overall aim of these surveys was to assess the occupants’ perceptions of a range of factors related to their performance. The objective of this paper was to explore the influence of demographic factors such as age, sex, and working location on their scores for comfort overall, productivity and health; together with a range of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) factors. Significant differences were identified between the perception scores for all of these factors between the under and over 30s and between male and female respondents, the former group rating themselves better in both cases. Evidence of a downward trend in perceived productivity was also found as the numbers sharing an office increased. Some current survey protocols related to length of time worked in the building were reinforced.fals