Green Building Occupant Satisfaction: Evidence from the Australian Higher Education Sector

Maryam Khoshbakht, Zhonghua Gou, Xiaohuan Xie, Baojie He and Amos Darko
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Maryam Khoshbakht: School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4215, Australia
Zhonghua Gou: School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4215, Australia
Xiaohuan Xie: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Baojie He: Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Amos Darko: Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: Universities spend billions of dollars on green buildings as a sustainability commitment. This research investigates occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ), building design (BD), and facilities management (FM) in five highly ranked green higher educational buildings in the subtropical climate of Australia, in comparison to nine non-green counterparts. The results disclose that the green building users were more consistently satisfied than the non-green building users with BD&FM elements, such as design, needs from facilities, building image, cleaning, the availability of meeting rooms, and storage. On the other hand, the study revealed weaknesses of green buildings in IEQ, such as noise, ventilation, and artificial lighting. The individual environmental control positively correlated with satisfaction in non-green buildings, but did not significantly affect satisfaction in green buildings. This study also identified the influences of non-environmental factors on occupant satisfaction, such as gender, age, sitting close to a window, hours spent in the building and in the workstation, and the number of people sharing office space. The research provides evidence and guidance for investing in, designing, and managing green educational facilities.

Keywords: green building; occupant satisfaction; indoor environment quality; building design; facilities management; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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