CIBSE has launched ‘Building Performance Reimagined’ a forward-thinking project developed to offer a holistic and future oriented perspective on building performance, pushing beyond traditional engineering practices and emphasising future challenges. 

The primary goal of the Building Performance Reimagined project is to expand the scope of traditional engineering practices and equip CIBSE members for future challenges. It explores the dynamic and evolving landscape of building performance, moving beyond the usual concerns of energy efficiency and carbon reduction. It encourages engineers to consider future forms of ‘value’ in the built environment and the significant cultural and systemic changes needed to unlock that value. 

The report introduces four key performance metrics to guide the transition towards health and resilience: 

• Variety: How can building services optimise space, promote adaptability, and support diverse uses and users?
• Readiness: How can building services mitigate risks, prevent harm, and build capacity to respond to unforeseen threats?
• Connectedness: How can building services better respond to the building's context and its contents, and integrate with local and broader systems?
• Emergence: How can building services contribute more than they consume and learn as structures age? 

The project redefines the role of building services engineers, emphasising their impact on systems and society. Their responsibilities now include enhancing all forms of life within and around a site, promoting biodiversity, and social equity through design and interactions. Additionally, engineers are increasingly tasked with influencing the broader urban context, shaping how buildings interact with local and city infrastructures, communities, and resources. 

CIBSE invites industry professionals to embark on this exciting journey, using futures and systems thinking methodologies to anticipate changing needs, explore potential futures, and identify opportunities to shape the built environment. This forward-looking approach aims to redefine high performance in buildings, considering not just individual benefits but also collective social value and multi-species stakeholder interests. 

The Building Performance Reimagined project is a bold step towards a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future, setting a new standard for the engineering profession and the built environment.