Performance in provision of facilities: a study of buildings in the health care sector

Paper in proceeding, 2006

The Scandinavian corporate real estate industry is very skilled in provide premises from the point of view of the core business, and efficiently mastering the management of multidisciplinary design and construction projects. Despite this, there is a common opinion among representatives for core business and corporate real estate in many branches of industry that the finished projects do not meet expectations regarding usability for the core business. This paper reports on a study that has analysed the process of providing premises for core businesses from a number of perspectives. The development of design theory throughout the past four decades has been one, the development of methods and theory in participatory design is another. The issues and definitions of usability and functionality that have been elaborated through the CIB workgroup WI 11 project Usability of Workspace are also used in the study. The aim of the study is to find better ways to provide premises from the point of view of the core business. This paper elaborates how the praxis of providing premises among Swedish corporate real estate companies in healthcare differs from the state-of-the-art in the above areas.