Building Survey#
This activity is a simplified version of what energy efficiency consultants do during a site survey. During it, the group fills out a form with basic information about parts of the building that relate to heating, heat loss, and ventilation.
The building survey activity ensures your entire group is familiar with the building. That way they can all contribute to the planning process. Even if one or two people know all about the building, you need to do something to aid the group’s thinking. Otherwise you may end up with plans that miss useful insights or that could fail to gain community support.
We’ve structured the survey as if the group has no existing documentation for their building, and for some groups, this is correct. For the smallest and simplest buildings, the group can all stay together to conduct the survey. For some buildings, the group can split into two or three subgroups and report back on their sections of the form. In others, the group will need to focus on one or two spaces, use those throughout the sessions, and discuss what they want to do for the rest of their premises.
Be careful of the time. It’s not important to be complete, but you should try to get a sense of as many sections of the form as possible to give a good overall picture. You will need good documentation of your buildings to enact your plans, but you can fill the full details out later.
Photographs
Photographs can be very useful if the group splits up, and help tremendously for engaging the rest of the community and conveying questions and intentions to professionals.
The more you have past records, the more you will need to use your judgment about what to do. You don’t have to document your building using our form as long as you have documentation that will be usable to enact your plans. You might, for instance, have one person give a tour of the building describing what would go on the survey form, filling in any missing information as you go. Just be careful not to set anyone up as an expert whose opinions will then count more than the others.