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Design strategies to increase building

flexibility
E. Sarah Slaughter
Published online: 15 Oct 2010.

To cite this article: E. Sarah Slaughter (2001) Design strategies to increase building flexibility, Building
Research & Information, 29:3, 208-217, DOI: 10.1080/09613210010027693

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 Building Research & Information (2001) 29(3), 208–217

Design strategies to increase

building ¯ exibility

E. Sarah Slaughter

MOCA Systems, One Gateway Center, Suite 808, Newton, MA 02458, USA
Downloaded by [North Dakota State University] at 14:52 09 December 2014

As the needs of owners and occupants change, buildings must be frequently renovated, resulting in signiŽ cant cost and lost
use of the buildings during the construction. This research develops a systematic approach to examine the nature of
changes that can be expected to occur in built facilities, and analyses speciŽ c design strategies that can signiŽ cantly increase
the building  exibility, or ability to accommodate change. The three types of changes in a building are in its functions, the
capacity of its systems, and the  ow of the environment and people within and around the facility. Analysis of renovation
projects reveals that buildings require more changes to all systems (i.e. structure, enclosure, services and interior Ž nish) than
is commonly assumed, and that the difŽ culty of these renovations is determined by the inter-relationships among the
systems. The design strategies can provide a speciŽ c means to modify these interactions among the systems, and to more
easily and efŽ ciently accommodate changes during subsequent renovations. These design strategies increase the initial
construction cost by less than 2% on average and usually decrease the original construction duration, and the majority of
the strategies provide cost savings of 2% of the initial construction cost within the Ž rst renovation.

Keywords: adaptation, change, design strategies, facility management,  exibility, obsolescence, renovation, rehabilitation

Avec l’évolution des besoins des propriétaires et des occupants, les bâtiments doivent être rénovés fréquemment, ce qui est à
la fois une source de dépenses importantes et une perte d’usage pendant les travaux. La présente étude propose une
approche systématique visant à examiner la nature des changements dont on peut s’attendre à ce qu’ils se produisent dans
les parties déjà construites et à analyser des stratégies de conception propres à augmenter sensiblement la souplesse
d’exploitation des bâtiments ou leur aptitude à s’adapter à des changements. Les trois types de changements pouvant
affecter un bâtiment sont ses fonctions propres, la capacité de ses systèmes et l’environnement ainsi que le  ux des
personnes à l’intérieur et autour du bâtiment. L’analyse de projets de rénovation fait apparaître que les bâtiments
nécessitent davantage de changements de tous les systèmes (c’est à dire, structures, enceintes, services et Ž nition intérieure)
qu’on ne l’imagine généralement et que la difŽ culté de ces rénovations est liée aux interconnexions entre les systèmes.
Les stratégies de conception peuvent constituer un instrument spéciŽ que à utiliser pour modiŽ er ces interconnexions
entre systèmes et pour faire acceptor plus facilement et avec davantage d’efŽ cacité les changements pendant les travaux
de rénovation ultérieurs. Avec de telles stratégies, l’augmentation du coût initial de la construction ne dépasse pas 2% en
moyenne et la durée des travaux se trouve réduite; dans l’ensemble, ces solutions permettent de réaliser des économies de
2% sur le coût initial de la construction lors de la première rénovation.

Mots clés: adaptation, changement, stratégies de conception, gestion des installations, souplesse, obsolescence, rénovation,
réhabilitation

Introduction
The longevity and potential obsolescence of built facilities is
a concern for all owners, from large corporations to govern-
ment agencies to homeowners, as well as to the occupants
and users of these facilities. The usefulness of these facilities
is often compromised by their inability to accommodate
changes over time. It is not economical or resource efŽ cient
to design and build facilities that have only a short functional
life, since a facility that prematurely reaches the end of its
useful life reduces the effective time period over which
beneŽ ts could be obtained, and increases the effective cost of
demolition and waste disposal, thereby reducing the return
on the initial investment. Increasing the functional life of a
facility through attention to the capacity of the original
design and constructed systems to easily, quickly, and
inexpensively accommodate change over the full life of the

Building Research & Information ISSN 0961-3218 print/ISSN 1466-4321 online © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/09613210010027693

facility can improve the value of the facility to the owner
and reduce disruptions and downtime for the occupants
(Figure 1).
This research addresses this concern through a theoretical
approach to the nature of change in built facilities, and an
empirical analysis of change implementation in existing
buildings. In addition, the research analyses speciŽ c design
strategies used on particular projects that can decrease the
time and cost required to incorporate new components and
systems into a building to meet new or changed requirements
(Maury, 1999; Keymer, 2000).
Several studies have examined and characterized the
interactions among the systems and their components
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during operation (Alexander, 1982; Lion, 1982; Rush, 1986;
Merritt and Ambrose, 1990; Reid, 1990; Slaughter et al.,
1997). Several recent studies analyse a facility over a long
time period to examine the types of changes it can easily
incorporate (Habraken, 1972; Lees and Smith 1984; Pessiki et
al., 1995; Gann and Barlow, 1996; Bordass and Leaman, 1997;
Patterson, 1998). While many of the issues and approaches
discussed in these analyses focus on speciŽ c usage categories,
these approaches can form the basis for a comprehensive
approach to analysing potential changes over a facility’s life
for all possible usage categories.
Figure 1 Expected life cycle of facilities and potential impact of design to accommodate change
Design strategies to increase building ¯ exibility
The evaluation of the relative costs and beneŽ ts from the
speciŽ c design strategies are analysed using common
methodological approaches, and building on recent empirical
work. Life cycle cost analyses can provide an initial basis
for understanding the immediate and long-term beneŽ ts
from increasing the capacity to accommodate change
(Dell’Isola and Kirk, 1983; Riggs and Jones, 1990; Neely and
Neathammer, 1991; Bull, 1993). For example, life cycle data
for bridges have been incorporated into proactive bridge
management programmes that seek to extend the useful life
of existing bridges. An emerging issue in life cycle costing
approaches is the need to address signiŽ cant changes that
occur over the time period, such as in loads, conditions or
general usage.
Theoretical framework
The framework for this research is the building systems
and their interactions, coupled with a speciŽ cation of the
different types of changes that can be expected over the long
term. A built facility can be examined as a set of functional
systems; that is, the structure, exterior enclosure, services
and interior Ž nish systems. The physical characteristics of
these systems and their conŽ gurations form the basis in
which to analyse the capacity of speciŽ c buildings to
efŽ ciently accommodate changes over time.
209
 Slaughter

Types of facility changes
This research develops the concept that, during the life
of a facility, three general types of changes can be expected
to occur, in function, capacity and  ow (Table 1). These
changes can be seen as exogenous to the facility itself,
responding to either the owner’s objectives or the
expected facility usage. (Endogenous changes would include
corrosion, deterioration, and other factors inherent in the
components and systems and their environment, and are
excluded from this analysis.)
Change in function
A function is deŽ ned as the set of activities or components
to achieve a speciŽ c objective. Functions can be performed
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as a whole increase (rather than the upgrading of the
systems, which is limited to the systems themselves), and new
systems or components often must be incorporated within
the facility to meet these new facility requirements.
A facility may also be modiŽ ed to achieve a wholly different
set of objectives than those for which it was originally
designed and built. The expected performance levels for a
change in usage class may differ signiŽ cantly from the
original requirements, and the new functions would not be
expected to be present in the facility as originally conceived.
For example, when an ofŽ ce building is converted into a
residential unit, the facility’s systems must be modiŽ ed to
accommodate the change in usage class, which includes such
new functions as cooking, bathing and sleeping (Gann and
Barlow, 1996).

by the facility itself (e.g. provide shelter) or with respect

to human activities (e.g. transportation, manufacturing,
housing). Changes to the functions associated with a facility
include upgrading existing functions, incorporating
new functions, and modifying to accommodate different
functions.
Upgrading existing functions usually entails a modiŽ ed set of
activities or components to achieve the same objective.
Upgrading systems or their components speciŽ cally applies
to cases where the expected performance levels have
increased, and the existing elements are not able to meet
those new performance requirements. For example, replacing
single pane wood-framed windows with double paned
metal framed windows still achieves the same function (i.e.
providing light and air), but the new component has
additional attributes which may offer different beneŽ ts (e.g.
lower maintenance costs, decreased air inŽ ltration, improved
energy efŽ ciency).
A new function, however, achieves a new objective in
addition to those functions already existing within the
facility. For instance, adding air conditioning to a school
building introduces a new objective for the service systems.
In this case, the expected performance levels for the facility
Change in capacity
Capacity is deŽ ned as the ability of the facility to meet
certain performance requirements, in either loads/conditions
or volume. Changes in the loads can occur for a built facility
from either increased expectations for performance, or
improved understanding of probable load conditions. For
instance, bridges built 100 years ago could not anticipate the
live loads from large trucks and other motorized vehicles,
while understanding of the behaviour of masonry buildings
under seismic loading has improved signiŽ cantly in recent
years. In these cases, the facilities would be modiŽ ed to
increase their load capacity or their performance under
speciŽ c load conditions.
Changes in volume capacity refer to the spatial dimensions
of built facilities. In many facilities, a basic requirement over
time is to add more space in or on which the basic functions
of the facility are performed. The increase in the need
for useable space is often deŽ ned by the performance
requirements with respect to the future usage class of the
building. For example, a manufacturing facility may add
special utility rooms to provide the level of power and

Table 1 Types of changes in a built facility

Type of change Category Response to

Function Upgrade existing functions
Incorporate new functions
Modify for different functions
Capacity Change loads/ conditions
Change volume
Flow Change in environmental ¯ ows
Change in ¯ ow of people/things
Higher performance levels that require different components/
processes
New facility performance objectives that require new components/
systems
Different objectives from change in usage class that require different
components/systems/processes
Higher expected performance under speci® c load conditions
Increased requirements for operable space per usage class
Higher/different performance requirements for internal or surrounding
environmental conditions
Different performance requirements for passage, movement or
organization of people/things within/into facility

210

services required by new production machinery, or an ofŽ ce
building may add a  oor.
Change in  ow
Flows are deŽ ned as the movements within and around a
building relating to the surrounding environment and its
usage population. Changes in the environmental  ows can be
in response to the climatic or physical environmental con-
ditions within a facility, or between the facility and its
environment. For example, replacing Ž xed pane windows
with operable windows changes the environmental  ows.
These environmental  ows relate to the movement of air,
light, and sound with respect to the interaction with the built
environment.
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Changes in the  ow of people or things can occur in
response to process or organizational changes by the
occupant. For example, when a company expands to include
two contiguous  oors, it may wish to install an interior
staircase to improve the movement of people within its ofŽ ce
space. These  ows represent the usage patterns of the facility
as a whole, and are often used to evaluate the facility’s value
with respect to its expected and actual effective space
utilization.
Building system interactions
The systems within a building can interact through various
mechanisms, and the nature of these interactions and the
systems themselves in uence the  exibility of the building
to respond to the different types of changes. The system
interactions can be grouped into three general categories:
physical, functional and spatial interaction. Physical
interactions among building systems can be through a
connection, intersection or adjacency. For instance, a roof
element can be mechanically connected to the structure,
interleaved through the structural elements, or simply rest
upon the structure. These interactions are often easiest to
identify and verify through direct observation, both during
design and construction, and during the operational life.
Second, systems can functionally interact. The interaction
can enhance current functions, such as when an exterior wall
panel provides additional shear capacity to a framing system.
Interactions can also complement current functions (e.g.
natural light sources can complement artiŽ cial lighting
systems) but they can also degrade current functions, such as
when open windows degrade the performance of the heating
system. Often functional interactions may be difŽ cult to
trace and analyse, particularly for complex systems and
conditions.
Third, systems can interact spatially, operating independ-
ently but within the same room, for instance. The provision
of the systems (through the components) within the spatial
region provides a usage interaction that may not be physic-
ally or functionally deŽ ned, but can be most important for
Design strategies to increase building ¯ exibility
the owner’s perception of the adequacy of the building. For
instance, lighting within a room spatially interacts with
interior surface Ž nishes differently for work at a desk with
paper and work at a table with a computer.
The three major types of change (function, capacity and
 ow) and the interactions among systems provide a frame-
work in which to analyse the capacity of a facility to meet
the performance requirements with respect to the value-
added activities performed within or through the facility. The
change types capture different attributes related to the
owner’s performance expectations, the built environment, and
the current approaches to meet those requirements. Using the
building systems, their interactions, and the types of changes
over time, the research develops a systematic methodology
through which to analyse speciŽ c strategies to accommodate
required function, capacity, and  ow changes over time.
Methodology
The empirical research on the renovation of existing facilities
and the speciŽ c design strategies is based on data collected
from the owners, facilities managers, construction managers,
architects, engineers and contractors involved in the projects.
Detailed information was collected for 48 recent building
projects in the US (Maury, 1999; Keymer, 2000) (Table 2).
The speciŽ c data for each building include a technical
description of the existing systems and components and the
date they were installed, the extent of current renovation
activities, and the design strategies employed to speciŽ cally
accommodate future changes in the components and
systems. In addition, 37 speciŽ c design strategies were
identiŽ ed that have been used in actual buildings to accom-
modate expected changes (Keymer, 2000). The detailed data
were collected through in-depth personal interviews and
supplemented through publications, project documentation,
and site visits.
The costs for the initial construction, operations and main-
tenance, and renovation were estimated for each design
strategy by examining the speciŽ c time and resources
required to incorporate the design strategy into the base
building and to accommodate the changes during subsequent
renovations. The base building used for these calculations is
an ofŽ ce building constructed in Cambridge, MA, in 1998,
Table 2 Sample of projects by current usage class
Building usage Sample num ber Percent
Industrial 4 8%
Retail 3 6%
Of® ce 21 44%
R&D 6 12%
Institutional 11 23%
Residential 3 6%
Total 48 100%
211
 Slaughter
which is 5 stories, 11 566 M2 (124 500 SF ), with a 5 by 7 bay
 oorplate. Actual cost data was obtained from the building
developer. The initial cost for each design strategy includes
the material/component cost (as estimated through manu-
facturer or public source prices), the cost of resources
(standard or specialized) required to incorporate the strategy,
and other related costs, such as modiŽ cations to other
systems. The analysis approach is similar to that employed
to estimate the time, cost and worker safety impacts of
design and construction innovations (Slaughter, 1999), which
focuses on the speciŽ c tasks required to transform and
aggregate detailed physical components into the completed
facility.
Results
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The research results reveal that buildings undergo sig-
niŽ cantly more renovation to all systems (i.e. structure,
enclosure, services and interior Ž nish) than is commonly
assumed, particularly when the building is being changed for
a new usage class. These results also indicate that signiŽ cant
need exists for strategies to increase the effectiveness of
renovation activities to accommodate change. While all
future building requirements can never be completely
anticipated, certain design strategies can be employed during
either initial construction or renovation that can reduce the
time and cost for subsequent building modiŽ cations to
Table 3 Accommodation changes to building systems by renovation to same and different
usage classes
Syst em Sam e usage class
Structure 64%
Enclosure 73%
Services 73%
Interior Finish 82%
Sample 11 buildings
Source: (Maury, 1999)
Figure 2 Patterns of usage class changes
212
accommodate changes in the building’s functions, capacity,
or  ows.
Renovation to accommodate change
Analysis of changes accommodated in renovation reveals
several speciŽ c trends (Maury, 1999). First, the buildings
required more change to all four systems (structural, exterior
enclosure, services, and interior Ž nish) than is usually pre-
dicted in the literature (Table 3). The nature and extent of
the changes differed signiŽ cantly by whether the facility
remained in the same usage class or changed to a new usage
occupancy type (Figure 2). Changes in the usage class, such
as converting a warehouse into an ofŽ ce building or a school
building into apartments, signiŽ cantly alters the set of facil-
ity performance requirements and changes the inter-
relationships among the systems. These changes in both
objectives and interactions result in signiŽ cant changes to
each system. While most analyses of building renovation
often assume that the structural system rarely changes, this
research found that almost two-thirds of the buildings
being renovated for the same usage class required changes to
the structural system, and almost 90% of the buildings
being renovated for a new usage class required structural
changes. In addition, the exterior enclosure system also
required changes in the majority of both samples. Therefore,
while these systems are often not explicitly conŽ gured to
Different usage class Total sample
87% 77%
100% 88%
100% 88%
100% 92%
15 buildings 26 buildings

accommodate change, implementing speciŽ c design strategies
for these systems could signiŽ cantly alter the resources
expended to incorporate changes within existing facilities,
and thereby increase the value of these facilities.
The types of changes required for the renovation of buildings
for same and different usage classes reveals the areas that
have the strongest potential to increase the buildings’
long-term value. These results conŽ rm that building renov-
ation for the same usage class primarily accommodates
higher performance requirements for the systems (Table 4).
In addition, approximately one third of the sample increased
the building volume to meet new space requirements. In
contrast, renovation for a different usage class required
signiŽ cant incorporation of new components, systems and
processes to meet the different performance objectives, with
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signiŽ cant accompanying changes to meet the altered
performance requirements for the expected load and volume
capacities and the  ows within the system. These changes
also usually involved signiŽ cant modiŽ cations to the regions
and nature of the interactions between systems.
These results indicate the regions of change for the different
building systems and the required inter-relationship among
the systems that need to be incorporated into design
strategies. The design strategies can explicitly address these
requirements to increase the capacity of facilities to accom-
modate all of the types of changes over the functional life of
the facility.
Design strategies to accommodate change
While owners, designers and contractors generally
acknowledge that renovation to accommodate change is a
costly and time-consuming endeavour, it has been difŽ cult to
systematically approach the issue because of its complexity.
In particular, the nature of construction projects, with the
unique requirements and resources for each project, and the
complexity of the facilities themselves, with often multiple
generations of different systems within the same building,
can confound simplistic solutions to solve the problem.
However, several design approaches have emerged, and
speciŽ c design strategies have been developed and employed
Table 4 Proportion of renovated facilities that experienced change by categories for same and
different usage classes
Change type Change category
Function Update
New
Different
Capacity Loads
Volume
Flows Environment
People/things
Source: (Maury, 1999)
Design strategies to increase building ¯ exibility
on particular projects. A design approach can be deŽ ned as
a goal or set of goals that a facility design should meet. A
design strategy, on the other hand, is a speciŽ c means to
accomplish an objective or set of objectives. Analysis of these
general approaches and the speciŽ c strategies can reveal the
potential impacts from improving building  exibility, and
speciŽ cally increasing its capacity to accommodate change,
including their impact on initial and lifecycle costs.
General design approaches
Current thinking about the means to increase facility  ex-
ibility can be grouped into three general design approaches.
The Ž rst approach generally focuses on physically separating
the major building systems (and their sub-systems) so that
changes in one area can be isolated from changes in other
regions (Brand, 1994; Glen, 1994). For example, a building
design used ofŽ ce ‘pods’, which were room-sized cubes with
connection to the service systems through a single link to an
overhead distribution system.
In the second approach, the prefabrication of major system
components can increase the ease with which these elements
can be changed out over time (Glen, 1994; Gann and Barlow,
1996). For example, a new interior partition system uses
prefabricated panels that Ž t into a ceiling mounted track,
with no required on-site activities to create and install the
system elements or the continuous wall surface (Keymer,
2000). The third approach is to design certain systems and
their components signiŽ cantly overcapacity so that changes
can be accommodated without the replacement or extension
of current capacity capabilities (Iselin and Lemer, 1993;
Glen, 1994; Gann and Barlow, 1996). For example, selecting
structural members with higher capacity than currently
required for the immediate design loads can provide the
opportunity to add to the building in the future.
Design strategies
The set of speciŽ c design alternatives examined in this
research increase initial building cost by only a small
amount, and on average provide cost savings within the Ž rst
renovation cycle (Table 5). The average cost for implementing
Same usage class Different usage class
57% 30%
25% 47%
85%
23% 62%
32% 63%
20% 65%
20% 58%
213
 Slaughter

Table 5 Initial cost and renovation cost impacts for design strategies

Cost st atistic Cost inc rease per Cost saving per 1

Square metre Square foot % Building cost Square metre Square foot % Building c ost

Average $0.14 $1.49 1.6% $1.32 $14.21 15.3%

Median $0.02 $0.18 0.2% $0.21 $2.25 2.4%
Minimum $0.00 $0.00 0% -$0.02 -$0.23 -0.2%
Maximum $1.91 $20.55 22.4% $27.87 $300.00 322%

Note: Calculated from the base building with total construction cost at $8.64 M 2 ($93/SF); 1 Cost savings = (renovation cost without strategy ±
renovation cost with strategy) ± initial cost of strategy.
Source: (Keymer, 2000)

the strategies was an increase of between 1 and 2% of total Table 6 Clusters of design strategies
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building costs, but the median cost increase associated with

incorporating the design strategies was less than 1%. (One
strategy signiŽ cantly increased the initial construction cost.) Cluster Number of
design
Almost all of the strategies, however, provide relative cost st rategies*
savings compared to the standard alternatives within the
Reduce inter-system interactions 16
Ž rst renovation to accommodate changes. The median cost Reduce intra-system interactions 9
saving (which is calculated by estimating the renovation Use interchangeable system components 12
cost without and with the strategy, and subtracting the
Increase layout predictability 13
initial cost of implementing the strategy) is approximately
Improve physical access 13
2% of initial construction cost. While one strategy required
Dedicate speci® c area/volume for system zone 6
several renovation cycles to recoup the original amount Enhance system access proximity 12
invested in implementing the strategy, the majority of the Improve ¯ ow 5
strategies provided immediate return on the investment, Phase system installation 3
and nine strategies made subsequent renovations possible Simplify partial/phased demolition 20
that would have been technically impossible or economically
unfeasible without the strategies. *Several of the 37 design strategies appear in more than 1 cluster.
Source: (Keymer, 2000)
The strategies also exhibited important impacts on con-
struction duration, both for the initial construction as well as the ease with which one system can be changed without
subsequent renovations. Approximately one third of the required alterations in other systems. A modular panelized
strategies might increase initial construction duration, but cladding system demonstrates this concept, where the struc-
almost three quarters of the strategies signiŽ cantly shorten ture is physically separated from the cladding panels. Because
the renovation duration, and thereby reduce the construction these strategies generally require special units that can be
impacts on the building occupants. In addition, all but one difŽ cult to procure, they generally raise the initial building
of the strategies can improve access for operations and cost by approximately 3%. However, all of these systems
maintenance activities, even though the strategy users did not provided cost savings within the Ž rst renovation cycle. These
necessarily identify this aspect of their functionality. The strategies can also signiŽ cantly reduce downtime while the
majority of the strategies can be easily implemented during change is made and also reduce material waste. In addition,
initial design or later renovation using standard materials, most of these strategies increase accessibility to the system
systems, or methods. components for operations and maintenance activities.

To explore the nature of the strategies in more detail, the 37
design strategies are grouped into 10 clusters (Table 6). These
clusters expand further the general objectives described in
the design approaches, and can provide an organizing
context for speciŽ c examples of design strategies and their
functional and economic performance, analysed in the
context of the representative base building.
The strategies in the cluster that reduce inter-system
interactions often rely on the use of speciŽ c components to
reduce the interdependency with other systems to improve
Several design strategies focus speciŽ cally on reducing the
intra-system interactions. For these strategies, a critical
region in which change occurs is within a system, and
particularly among the contiguous components in a system.
For example, a modular block partition wall provides the
opportunity to easily move the doorway and adjacent
transparent panels through simply re-arranging the blocks,
rather than tearing down the wall. These strategies primarily
focus on simplifying the connections between the compon-
ents, and often require special units. The average initial cost
increase is only 1% on average, and these strategies provide

214

a signiŽ cant decrease in the downtime for implementing the
changes, resulting in an overall cost saving.
Interchangeable system components can provide economies
both in ordering materials and in their placement and
replacement during change implementation. These modular
components may aggregate several smaller units together,
such as a raised panelized  oor with data interface boxes
attached to selected panels, with movement of the special
panels thereby relocating the boxes (Keymer, 2000). The
majority of these strategies requires special components and
therefore may involve procurement concerns, and can
increase the initial building cost by 3% on average. In
addition, almost all of these strategies require an irrevocable
commitment to the system for the functional life of the
building, where it would be almost impossible to extract
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the speciŽ c system and be able to continue operations
within the building. However, these strategies do provide
signiŽ cantly improved access for operations and maintenance
activities, and greatly simplify renovation construction and
shorten its downtime. Overall, almost all of these strategies
provide cost savings, although some do not appear to offer
sufŽ cient savings to justify the initial expenditure unless the
effected space is renovated several times to accommodate
frequent changes.
A different means of achieving  exibility is to increase the
predictability of the layout of a system and its components,
particularly for those elements that are physically interwoven
with or hidden by other units. For the strategies in this
cluster, the regularity of the physical layout can provide
critical signals to reduce the duration and extent of
demolition to Ž nd the required components. For instance,
locating critical service risers at the columns can reduce the
uncertainty associated with modiŽ cations to the capacity of
the service systems or the location of their access points. In
general, these strategies are easy to achieve, and require no
increase in the initial building cost, and can be implemented
using standard building systems and methods. However, the
predictability of the system location does not necessarily
increase access for operations and maintenance (for example,
the service risers may still be behind the interior material),
and the level of savings for these strategies are in general
fairly small.
In contrast, several strategies speciŽ cally focus on improving
the physical access to systems and components for change
implementation. While several of these strategies use special
components, the overall impacts of these strategies is only a
small increase (approximately 1%) in the initial construction
cost, and the majority of these strategies provided direct cost
savings as well as signiŽ cantly shortening the downtime for
the change implementation. For example, one strategy uses
demountable drywall panels that provide easy access to the
electrical wiring within the wall cavity.
Another means of achieving  exibility is to create speciŽ c
zones for each particular system, and to keep those areas or
volumes free from other components and systems. For
Design strategies to increase building ¯ exibility
example, placing the electrical wiring within a hollow
baseboard provides a speciŽ c zone for the location of and
access to these components and systems. While some of
these strategies employ special components, the average cost
increase for these strategies is generally small (i.e. 1%), and
most of the strategies provide immediate savings (i.e. lowered
renovation costs in excess of initial cost increase for Ž rst
renovation). These strategies decrease the downtime required
to implement the changes, and also increase access for
operations and maintenance activities.
A related set of design strategies focuses on increasing the
physical proximity of the access points of speciŽ c systems, to
reduce the need for signiŽ cant renovations when the location
of work spaces or  ows of people or activities change. In one
facility, for example, the telecommunications and power
systems were set out in a grid below the suspended  oor so
the access points could be easily repositioned when the walls
of the ofŽ ces were changed without signiŽ cant renovation
activities. These strategies can be implemented using
standard materials and methods, and have little impact on
the initial cost, providing signiŽ cant cost savings in the
immediate term through reducing renovation costs and
downtime.
Design strategies that improve the  ow of people or things
throughout a space can accommodate change through the
strategic location of speciŽ c system components. These
system conŽ gurations can accommodate many different
arrangements of inter-related systems. While these strategies
can generally be implemented easily during design and
require no special components, they do require an irrevocable
commitment to the strategy, where the system layout cannot
be changed without signiŽ cant basic alteration of the whole
facility. For example, the building cores (e.g. utility risers and
elevators) can be placed at either end of the building to open
the centre of the  oor plate as useable space. The impact of
these strategies on initial and renovation costs is difŽ cult to
calculate since those costs are determined by the size and
complexity of the complete facility and so cannot be deŽ ned
in the general case.
Certain strategies explicitly consider expediting future
construction activities. The strategy clusters of phased
installation and simpliŽ ed demolition incorporate physical
components or systems during the initial construction that
are explicitly designed to accommodate either growth in a
speciŽ c system (e.g. later structural addition) or the removal
of all or a portion of a system. These strategies can be
easily implemented using standard components, systems and
methods, and their initial cost impact is often very small,
while they signiŽ cantly reduce downtime for subsequent con-
struction activities. Indeed, these strategies can make certain
usage class changes feasible that would otherwise be cost
prohibitive or impossible.
The design strategies can improve the long-term value of
the facility through reducing the time and cost required to
renovate the building to incorporate changes. These design
215
 Slaughter
strategies can often be implemented with little or no
impact on the initial construction time and cost, and can
offer signiŽ cant return on their investment within the Ž rst
renovation cycle.
Discussion and conclusion
Buildings must be designed and built to meet the needs of
their owners and occupants over the long term. Common
assumptions concentrate attention on the services and
interior Ž nish systems, and their renovation to accommodate
changes in occupancy patterns. However, this research
demonstrates that renovation actually requires changes to
all of the building systems, and that changes in functions
themselves, as well as the capacity of the systems, need to be
accommodated over time. A key Ž nding in the analysis of
Downloaded by [North Dakota State University] at 14:52 09 December 2014
renovation projects was that the interactions between the
systems strongly in uenced the building’s adaptability, and
that the structural and exterior enclosure systems, as well as
the services and interior Ž nish, should be designed with
respect to anticipated changes.
The design strategies analysed in this research demonstrate
the availability and effectiveness of speciŽ c measures
to increase building  exibility. Although it is commonly
assumed that increasing a building’s adaptability to changes
over time will necessarily increase initial construction cost
and duration, these design strategies demonstrate that many
existing strategies can be implemented at little or no increase
in initial construction cost, and can use standard con-
struction means and methods, with a decrease in initial
construction duration. These strategies can provide sig-
niŽ cant cost savings during the Ž rst renovation cycle, through
reducing the time required to implement the changes. In
addition, the strategies can provide additional savings
through increased accessibility of the units throughout the
facility operations and maintenance activities.
Increasing the  exibility of facilities, and extending their
useful life, can increase the value of the buildings. First, it
extends the period over which value can be obtained through
uninterrupted use of the facility. Second, the reduction in
time and cost associated with subsequent renovations
to accommodate change can provide direct beneŽ ts to the
building owner as well as the occupants. These potential
savings can begin to be recognized in the market value of
the facility itself, as the dimensions of adaptability are
explicitly recognized, and the savings can be systematically
analysed.
This research provides a new method and set of tools to
demonstrate the impacts that speciŽ c design strategies can
have on the lifecycle costs of buildings, particularly recogniz-
ing the need to accommodate changes in function, capacity,
and  ow over time. Building from empirical data on renova-
tion projects for existing buildings, and design strategies
actually employed, the research clearly demonstrates the cost
efŽ ciency and overall effectiveness of designing and building
facilities to accommodate change.
216
Acknowledgement
This research was sponsored through grant CMS 9800537
from the National Science Foundation. This research was
presented at the CIB Open Building Commission meetings in
Helsinki, Finland and Brighton, UK.
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