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Dr. Núria Forcada
Department of Project and Construction Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain

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0 BIM
0 Building Performance
0 Energy Efficiency
0 Risk Analysis
0 Thermal Comfort

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Energy Efficiency
Thermal Comfort
Risk Analysis
Building quality

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Short Biography

Dr. Forcada has an MSc in Industrial Engineering and an international PhD in Construction Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). She is a member of the Group of Construction Research and Innovation (GRIC) and has authored/coauthored 45 internationally refereed research papers, which have appeared in leading international journals. Dr. Forcada takes part in many national and international research projects funded by the European Union and the Spanish research council. Her current interests focus on building management to improve the thermal comfort of the occupants and the reduction of energy consumption, BIM and building performance.

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Journal article
Published: 21 April 2021 in Energy and Buildings
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Considering the progressive population aging, the fact that old people spend around 90% of their time indoors and the high energy expenditure of heating systems, thermal comfort in nursing homes should be analysed. The aim of this study is to analyse the thermal comfort during the winter of elderly people living in nursing homes (residents) and compare it with the thermal comfort of caregivers and therapists (non-residents). Longitudinal field measurements were conducted in 25 common rooms of five nursing homes in a Mediterranean climate during the winter, from January to March 2019. Room air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (HR%), mean radiant temperature (Tr) and air velocity (va) were recorded using a Delta Ohm HD32.1 instrument with an anemometer, thermometer and a black globe thermometer. “Right-here-right-now” thermal responses of occupants were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire delivered intermittently. A total of 881 questionnaires were collected and then matched against concurrent indoor and outdoor thermal conditions. The results indicate that residents of nursing homes in the Mediterranean climate were less sensitive to variations in room temperature than therapists and caregivers, and less sensitive than found in previous studies conducted in non-elderly adults. The neutral temperature for residents was 21.6 °C while for caregivers and therapists it was 21.9 °C. The results also showed that clothing adaptation to the activity of caregivers would increase their thermal comfort and might help thermal adaptation to residents’ thermal needs. The modification of temperature setpoints in nursing homes based on the results of this study could influence energy use and should be carefully considered by policy makers and nursing homes’ facility managers.

ACS Style

N. Forcada; M. Gangolells; M. Casals; B. Tejedor; M. Macarulla; K. Gaspar. Field study on thermal comfort in nursing homes in heated environments. Energy and Buildings 2021, 244, 111032 .

AMA Style

N. Forcada, M. Gangolells, M. Casals, B. Tejedor, M. Macarulla, K. Gaspar. Field study on thermal comfort in nursing homes in heated environments. Energy and Buildings. 2021; 244 ():111032.

Chicago/Turabian Style

N. Forcada; M. Gangolells; M. Casals; B. Tejedor; M. Macarulla; K. Gaspar. 2021. "Field study on thermal comfort in nursing homes in heated environments." Energy and Buildings 244, no. : 111032.

Journal article
Published: 18 March 2021 in Sustainability
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This paper analyzes the impact of an innovative approach based on gamification to promote reduced energy consumption in social housing. The game was developed and validated under the auspices of the EU-funded project EnerGAware-Energy Game for Awareness of energy efficiency in social housing communities in an affordable housing pilot located in Plymouth (United Kingdom). The results showed that the future exploitation of the game holds important energy- and emissions-saving potential. Assuming that the game is distributed freely by European energy providers to their domestic end-users, the game was found to be able to save more than 48.9 secondary terawatt-hours per year (TWhs) and 18.8 million tons of CO2e annually, contributing up to around 8% to the target set for the European buildings sector to keep global warming under 2 °C. The results also showed that the game is highly feasible from the energy point of view, even when we consider the energy consumed upstream, due to its low cumulative energy demand and its potential for household energy reduction. The results of this research provide helpful information for private and public stakeholders, as they contribute to determining the sustainability of promoting energy saving through gaming.

ACS Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada. Exploring the Potential of a Gamified Approach to Reduce Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in the Household Sector. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3380 .

AMA Style

Marta Gangolells, Miquel Casals, Marcel Macarulla, Núria Forcada. Exploring the Potential of a Gamified Approach to Reduce Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in the Household Sector. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (6):3380.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada. 2021. "Exploring the Potential of a Gamified Approach to Reduce Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in the Household Sector." Sustainability 13, no. 6: 3380.

Journal article
Published: 17 March 2021 in Energies
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Post-occupancy evaluations are common tools used to periodically assess Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in tertiary buildings. Although the large amount of data collected from surveys contain valuable information, the influence of building characteristics on IEQ considering the different uses of the rooms and different types of occupants is rarely considered in the evaluation. This study presents an analysis of the association between building characteristics and IEQ in different building rooms (classrooms and offices) and different occupants (students and lecturers) using a post occupancy evaluation survey to 1013 occupants in 26 higher educational buildings in Spain under a Mediterranean climate. This research demonstrated that building characteristics influence IEQ perceptions of the different rooms in tertiary education buildings. The possibility of controlling the lighting, shadows or heating, ventilation air or conditioning (HVAC) systems are the most influential factors when analyzing IEQ. The findings of this research are of interest to facility managers aiming at implementing energy efficiency measures based on user-centric satisfaction or developing maintenance plans focused on IEQ enhancement.

ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. Association between Building Characteristics and Indoor Environmental Quality through Post-Occupancy Evaluation. Energies 2021, 14, 1659 .

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. Association between Building Characteristics and Indoor Environmental Quality through Post-Occupancy Evaluation. Energies. 2021; 14 (6):1659.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2021. "Association between Building Characteristics and Indoor Environmental Quality through Post-Occupancy Evaluation." Energies 14, no. 6: 1659.

Article
Published: 11 February 2021 in Ergonomics
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There is little knowledge about occupants’ satisfaction when diverse end users coexist in the same building. This paper presents the results of a survey administered to 1013 occupants in 43 academic buildings in Spain, with the aim to reveal the perception of the indoor environmental quality and workplace ergonomics of both lecturers and students. The results revealed that light adequacy, cleanliness and acoustics in classrooms are perceived differently by lecturers and students. Results also revealed no gender differences in satisfaction with all aspects of comfort in classrooms. However, in offices, air quality, thermal sensation in winter and adequacy of space were perceived differently by male and female. The findings will be of interest for tertiary building maintenance, design teams and ergonomists to enhance comfort in both groups of end users. Practitioner Summary: There are no reported studies on how groups of occupants (regular and temporary) perceive comfort in relevant aspects such as acoustics, lighting, space adequacy, cleanliness, and ergonomics. The survey results with 1013 occupants revealed that regular users tend to be less satisfied than temporary users in rooms where they cohabit. Abbreviations: POE: post-occupancy evaluation; HVAC: heating, ventilation and air conditioning; AQ: air quality; IEQ: indoor environmental quality; TS: thermal sensation

ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. Regular and temporary occupants’ perceptions of satisfaction in tertiary education buildings. Ergonomics 2021, 1 -17.

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. Regular and temporary occupants’ perceptions of satisfaction in tertiary education buildings. Ergonomics. 2021; ():1-17.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2021. "Regular and temporary occupants’ perceptions of satisfaction in tertiary education buildings." Ergonomics , no. : 1-17.

Journal article
Published: 07 October 2020 in Building and Environment
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Elderly people are vulnerable to cold environments, due to aging's impact on the density of nerve fibers. Nevertheless, automatic controls of HVAC systems do not consider the user's real-time thermal sensation and most of algorithms were tested in manikins using climatic chambers or simulated by CFD. Indeed, a standardization of a non-invasive technique as infrared thermography (IRT) for human body responses was not detected in the literature review. This paper proposes a method to determine the indoor thermal comfort of elderly people by IRT. The campaigns took place in a nursing home of the Mediterranean Climate during Winter. A total of 15 old adults were monitored to measure the skin temperature of four face points (nose, forehead, cheekbone and chin) and clothing temperature. A thermal sensation questionnaire and indoor conditions were also collected. The results demonstrated that the IRT model could estimate the thermal exchange from three body-segments (head, back-pelvis, thorax-limbs) to the surroundings by user's features and environmental parameters. The thermal neutrality was achieved when all facial points reached a skin temperature of 35 °C, the clothing temperature was equal to 31 °C, and the operative temperature and relative humidity were 23.5 °C and 54% respectively. Statistically, 31.70% of the variance of PMV could be attributed to increases of facial skin temperature, while changes in user's features could have minor influence (from 0.88 to 6.40%). As regards the main contributions of heat losses, they were given by respiration (11–21%), convection (20–32%) and radiation (35–39%). Finally, an innovative HVAC control strategy was posed.

ACS Style

Blanca Tejedor; Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada. Human comfort modelling for elderly people by infrared thermography: Evaluating the thermoregulation system responses in an indoor environment during winter. Building and Environment 2020, 186, 107354 .

AMA Style

Blanca Tejedor, Miquel Casals, Marta Gangolells, Marcel Macarulla, Núria Forcada. Human comfort modelling for elderly people by infrared thermography: Evaluating the thermoregulation system responses in an indoor environment during winter. Building and Environment. 2020; 186 ():107354.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Blanca Tejedor; Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada. 2020. "Human comfort modelling for elderly people by infrared thermography: Evaluating the thermoregulation system responses in an indoor environment during winter." Building and Environment 186, no. : 107354.

Journal article
Published: 18 September 2020 in Energy and Buildings
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The number of people living in nursing homes is increasing due to the growth of ageing population. However, existing standards on thermal comfort do not consider how occupants of nursing homes perceive their thermal environment. This study investigated the thermal sensation of elderly people during summer season in nursing homes from the Mediterranean climate. The study was conducted to 623 nursing homes’ occupants (both residents (elderly people) and non-residents (caregivers)) using a thermal sensation questionnaire and measurement of indoor climatic parameters. Elderly’s results were compared with the results of caregivers to study the differences between these groups of population that coexist in the same building. The results showed that elderly people have a different thermal comfort perception than adults. The comfort temperature for elderly people was found to be 24.4°C while for non-elderly was 23.5°C. Residents were found to be more tolerant with high temperatures than non-residents. Results also showed that residents do not modify the clothing to adapt to unsatisfactory thermally conditions or to the activity. The results of this research may assist regulatory bodies to develop guidelines to design and operate nursing homes based on real thermal needs of their occupants.

ACS Style

N. Forcada; M. Gangolells; M. Casals; B. Tejedor; M. Macarulla; Katia Gaspar. Summer thermal comfort in nursing homes in the Mediterranean climate. Energy and Buildings 2020, 229, 110442 .

AMA Style

N. Forcada, M. Gangolells, M. Casals, B. Tejedor, M. Macarulla, Katia Gaspar. Summer thermal comfort in nursing homes in the Mediterranean climate. Energy and Buildings. 2020; 229 ():110442.

Chicago/Turabian Style

N. Forcada; M. Gangolells; M. Casals; B. Tejedor; M. Macarulla; Katia Gaspar. 2020. "Summer thermal comfort in nursing homes in the Mediterranean climate." Energy and Buildings 229, no. : 110442.

Journal article
Published: 19 August 2020 in Sustainability
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ICT-based solutions are seen to be almost totally environmentally friendly, but game-based solutions for energy saving have not been explored yet. This paper describes a comprehensive analysis and an in-depth interpretation of the life cycle environmental impact of a game-based solution for domestic energy saving, developed and validated within the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project EnerGAware—Energy Game for Awareness of energy efficiency in social housing communities. Life cycle impacts were calculated with SimaPRO 8.5.2.0 using the ReCiPe 2016 v1.02 midpoint and endpoint methods and information contained within the Ecoinvent v3.4 database. Although the pre-competitive solution, directly arising from the research project, was found to have a relatively high environmental impact, its future exploitation, which mostly relies on existing infrastructure, was found to be highly competitive from an environmental perspective. The game will help reduce the life cycle impact of domestic energy consumption on damage to human health (3.68%), ecosystem quality (3.87%), and resource availability (4.81%). Most of the environmental impact of the market solution was found in the manufacturing phase (77.96–80.12%). Transport (8.86–7.57%), use (3.86–5.82%), and maintenance (7.24–7.54%) phases were found to contribute little to environmental impact. This research provides a useful reference for decision-making as it contributes to the environmental benchmarking of competing energy-saving strategies.

ACS Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla. Life Cycle Analysis of a Game-Based Solution for Domestic Energy Saving. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6699 .

AMA Style

Marta Gangolells, Miquel Casals, Núria Forcada, Marcel Macarulla. Life Cycle Analysis of a Game-Based Solution for Domestic Energy Saving. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (17):6699.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla. 2020. "Life Cycle Analysis of a Game-Based Solution for Domestic Energy Saving." Sustainability 12, no. 17: 6699.

Erratum
Published: 13 June 2020 in Energy and Buildings
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ACS Style

Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada; Alba Fuertes; Rebecca J. Hafner; Rory V. Jones. Corrigendum to “Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project” [Energy Build. 210 (2020) 109753]. Energy and Buildings 2020, 223, 110193 .

AMA Style

Miquel Casals, Marta Gangolells, Marcel Macarulla, Núria Forcada, Alba Fuertes, Rebecca J. Hafner, Rory V. Jones. Corrigendum to “Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project” [Energy Build. 210 (2020) 109753]. Energy and Buildings. 2020; 223 ():110193.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada; Alba Fuertes; Rebecca J. Hafner; Rory V. Jones. 2020. "Corrigendum to “Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project” [Energy Build. 210 (2020) 109753]." Energy and Buildings 223, no. : 110193.

Journal article
Published: 12 June 2020 in Sustainable Cities and Society
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The European Green Deal establishes the need to renovate buildings in an energy efficient way, to address climate and environmental challenges. The purpose of this study was to devise a model for identifying environmental, cost-effective retrofitting measures by assessing their energy, economic and environmental impact when they are applied to the entire office stock. The methodology builds upon the energy performance certificate scheme to identify the life-cycle energy, economic and environmental impacts of a set of energy renovation measures for each representative office. The results can then be applied to the entire office stock. For any real office, a dozen characteristics are entered. Then, a user-friendly interface provides information about the expected performance of the renovation measures in that case along with the representativeness of the results. This methodology was implemented in a Spanish case study of 13,701 energy performance certificates. The findings showed that the most efficient energy renovation measures are heat pump replacement (18.1 %) and replacement of lamps with LEDs (14.4 %). Although the most effective retrofitting solutions depended on the evaluation criteria (energy, economic or environmental), 99.5 % of the cost-effective measures also reduced emissions during the life cycle.

ACS Style

Marta Gangolells; Katia Gaspar; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Nuria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla. Life-cycle environmental and cost-effective energy retrofitting solutions for office stock. Sustainable Cities and Society 2020, 61, 102319 .

AMA Style

Marta Gangolells, Katia Gaspar, Miquel Casals, Jaume Ferré-Bigorra, Nuria Forcada, Marcel Macarulla. Life-cycle environmental and cost-effective energy retrofitting solutions for office stock. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2020; 61 ():102319.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marta Gangolells; Katia Gaspar; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Nuria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla. 2020. "Life-cycle environmental and cost-effective energy retrofitting solutions for office stock." Sustainable Cities and Society 61, no. : 102319.

Journal article
Published: 10 March 2020 in Informes de la Construcción
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Durante la operación y el mantenimiento de los activos su performance puede disminuir. Si bien se han desarrollado una serie de herramientas y métodos para facilitar el proceso de evaluación del performance de los edificios, su complejidad y la falta de análisis de causalidad los hacen imprácticos. Este artículo pretende comprender las áreas de performance más relevantes para edificios no residenciales en general, y determinar los Key Performance Indicators (KPI) y su relación. Este estudio se basa en una revisión de la literatura, un focus group y una encuesta. Los resultados revelaron que los indicadores básicos utilizados para evaluar el performance de los edificios están relacionados con la seguridad y el correcto funcionamiento de los activos, la salud y confort, la funcionalidad de los espacios y la eficiencia energética. Los resultados también identificaron las relaciones entre los KPI y los factores externos para desarrollar un modelo causal para evaluar el performance de los edificios.

ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; N. Forcada. Indicadores Operacionales del Performance y Análisis de Causalidad para Edificios No Residenciales. Informes de la Construcción 2020, 72, 333 .

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, N. Forcada. Indicadores Operacionales del Performance y Análisis de Causalidad para Edificios No Residenciales. Informes de la Construcción. 2020; 72 (557):333.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; N. Forcada. 2020. "Indicadores Operacionales del Performance y Análisis de Causalidad para Edificios No Residenciales." Informes de la Construcción 72, no. 557: 333.

Journal article
Published: 30 December 2019 in Energy and Buildings
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The application of gamification to encourage energy conservation behaviour in house occupants is an emerging field of research. However, empirical evidence of its effectiveness is lacking. This paper presents lessons learnt from the EU-funded EnerGAware research project, in which an innovative serious game (a game designed for purposes other than purely entertainment) was developed to promote reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions by changing social housing tenants’ energy efficiency behaviour. The game was validated in a sample of European social housing using a longitudinal, two-stage experimental design, employing both pre-post and control group approaches. While some aspects of the game did not work as intended, there were nevertheless some positive impacts. The intervention increased social housing tenants’ awareness and engagement in certain energy saving behaviour and provided an average electricity saving of 3.46% and an average gas saving of 7.48%. Although savings were found not to be statistically significant, an effect size was detected (0.2). Therefore, future steps should exploit all available opportunities to replicate the pilot and increase the sample size so as to gain stronger evidence of the game's impact. Preliminary results support the utility of gaming investment in the household energy efficiency field, and provide useful insights and pathways that could be incorporated into the development of future serious game interventions to foster their effectiveness.

ACS Style

Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada; Alba Fuertes; Rory V. Jones. Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project. Energy and Buildings 2019, 210, 109753 .

AMA Style

Miquel Casals, Marta Gangolells, Marcel Macarulla, Núria Forcada, Alba Fuertes, Rory V. Jones. Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project. Energy and Buildings. 2019; 210 ():109753.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Miquel Casals; Marta Gangolells; Marcel Macarulla; Núria Forcada; Alba Fuertes; Rory V. Jones. 2019. "Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project." Energy and Buildings 210, no. : 109753.

Original articles
Published: 26 December 2019 in Building Research & Information
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The conservation state of buildings is of increasing interest due to the need to renovate aging building stock and provide a safe and healthy place for end users. Numerous uncertain factors have an impact on building condition, including environmental agents, building age, type of assets and maintenance. Previous studies have focused on identifying these factors, but the relationships among them remain unclear. This paper proposes a Bayesian network (BN) approach to develop a model for assessing a building’s condition. The BN model is based on an extensive review and evaluation of degradation causal factors supported by an analysis of 1974 defects and 5373 maintenance requests in forty buildings. The model was verified by sensitivity analysis, and the proposed approach was tested on an existing building. The model could be used as a supporting tool to identify renovation strategies that can enhance the conservation state of buildings and constructed assets.

ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. A probabilistic performance evaluation for buildings and constructed assets. Building Research & Information 2019, 48, 838 -855.

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. A probabilistic performance evaluation for buildings and constructed assets. Building Research & Information. 2019; 48 (8):838-855.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2019. "A probabilistic performance evaluation for buildings and constructed assets." Building Research & Information 48, no. 8: 838-855.

Journal article
Published: 12 November 2019 in Sustainability
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Buildings play a central role in the clean energy transition, which is why it is vital to understand how energy is consumed in this sector. Energy performance certificate databases are considered a key source of information on the characteristics of built building stock. Despite a growing portfolio of studies based on information from such databases, little is known about energy consumption in offices. This paper explores the modelled energy performance of existing offices in Spain, using data from 13,701 energy performance certificates collected by the Catalan Institute of Energy (ICAEN) in 2013–2018. Offices were found to consume between 202.66 and 212.10 kWhp/m2·year and were mostly ranked in classes C and D (~64%). Offices with E, F or G labels represent ~28% of the sample while A and B energy ratings are very scarce (~8%). Key drivers of energy consumption variation were found to be the office type, construction period, climate zone, renewable energy use, energy certification procedure and motivation for obtaining an energy performance certificate. Ownership was not found to affect average calculated energy consumption. The results will help policy makers to plan future energy conservation strategies.

ACS Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla; Kàtia Gaspar; Blanca Tejedor. Energy Benchmarking of Existing Office Stock in Spain: Trends and Drivers. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6356 .

AMA Style

Marta Gangolells, Miquel Casals, Jaume Ferré-Bigorra, Núria Forcada, Marcel Macarulla, Kàtia Gaspar, Blanca Tejedor. Energy Benchmarking of Existing Office Stock in Spain: Trends and Drivers. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (22):6356.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla; Kàtia Gaspar; Blanca Tejedor. 2019. "Energy Benchmarking of Existing Office Stock in Spain: Trends and Drivers." Sustainability 11, no. 22: 6356.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2019 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. A probabilistic-based approach to support the comfort performance assessment of existing buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 237, 1 .

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. A probabilistic-based approach to support the comfort performance assessment of existing buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 237 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2019. "A probabilistic-based approach to support the comfort performance assessment of existing buildings." Journal of Cleaner Production 237, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 28 October 2019 in Energy and Buildings
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A large number of buildings must be evaluated to formulate energy retrofitting policies for existing building stock. In this context, it is crucial to identify reference buildings that can effectively represent the entire stock, since such buildings can then be used to assess the individualized cost-effectiveness of retrofitting measures. This paper presents a novel approach for identifying and defining a set of reference buildings by applying the k-means clustering method to energy performance certificate databases. To this end, a four-step methodology has been envisaged. First, an energy performance certificate database is prepared and variables that have an impact on energy consumption are pre-selected. Selected data are then pre-processed. Next, the k-means clustering method is applied. Finally, the resulting cluster centroids are used to identify the closest energy performance certificates in the database, in other words, the representative buildings that will then be used for cost-optimal retrofitting analysis. The methodology is illustrated using the energy performance certificate database managed by the Catalan Institute of Energy (ICAEN), which includes a sample of 13,701 offices. Due to the large number of missing values in the database, the k-means clustering algorithm was finally performed over 6,083 energy performance certificates. Seven representative office blocks and offices in industrial buildings and nine representative offices in residential buildings were identified. The results establish the basis for supporting strategic decision-making for energy saving retrofit interventions in existing Spanish offices.

ACS Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla; Kàtia Gaspar; Blanca Tejedor. Office representatives for cost-optimal energy retrofitting analysis: A novel approach using cluster analysis of energy performance certificate databases. Energy and Buildings 2019, 206, 109557 .

AMA Style

Marta Gangolells, Miquel Casals, Jaume Ferré-Bigorra, Núria Forcada, Marcel Macarulla, Kàtia Gaspar, Blanca Tejedor. Office representatives for cost-optimal energy retrofitting analysis: A novel approach using cluster analysis of energy performance certificate databases. Energy and Buildings. 2019; 206 ():109557.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marta Gangolells; Miquel Casals; Jaume Ferré-Bigorra; Núria Forcada; Marcel Macarulla; Kàtia Gaspar; Blanca Tejedor. 2019. "Office representatives for cost-optimal energy retrofitting analysis: A novel approach using cluster analysis of energy performance certificate databases." Energy and Buildings 206, no. : 109557.

Journal article
Published: 16 May 2019 in Building Research & Information
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ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. Analysis of building maintenance requests using a text mining approach: building services evaluation. Building Research & Information 2019, 48, 207 -217.

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. Analysis of building maintenance requests using a text mining approach: building services evaluation. Building Research & Information. 2019; 48 (2):207-217.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2019. "Analysis of building maintenance requests using a text mining approach: building services evaluation." Building Research & Information 48, no. 2: 207-217.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2018 in Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
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The determination of the concession period (CP) in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects presents complexities to decision makers because various critical success factors (CSF) are involved which may be overlooked. This paper outlines a system dynamics (SD)-based approach to provide an in-depth understanding of CSFs that determines PPP projects’ CP and models them for localized use. The CSFs are obtained from published literature, duly vetted through a survey of 56 experts, and used to develop a quantitative and qualitative SD model, validated by simulating case studies of five infrastructure projects. A total of 59 concession-affecting CSFs are highlighted that are reduced and compared for localized infrastructure projects. The findings indicate that CP should be dynamic instead of fixed and static, and warrant an extension of the originally proposed concession in three cases and reduction in the remaining two. The decision-making implications of this study target the three key stakeholders: the public body through reduced financial risks, the private organization through increased confidence and reassessment of concession during project life, and the end user through nominal tolls.

ACS Style

Fahim Ullah; Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem; Samad M. E. Sepasgozar; Nuria Forcada. System Dynamics Model to Determine Concession Period of PPP Infrastructure Projects: Overarching Effects of Critical Success Factors. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction 2018, 10, 04518022 .

AMA Style

Fahim Ullah, Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem, Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, Nuria Forcada. System Dynamics Model to Determine Concession Period of PPP Infrastructure Projects: Overarching Effects of Critical Success Factors. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction. 2018; 10 (4):04518022.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fahim Ullah; Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem; Samad M. E. Sepasgozar; Nuria Forcada. 2018. "System Dynamics Model to Determine Concession Period of PPP Infrastructure Projects: Overarching Effects of Critical Success Factors." Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction 10, no. 4: 04518022.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2018 in Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
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The technical performance assessment of a building is essential for planning maintenance actions to improve its condition and functionality. The aim of this study is to present a building inspection system for evaluating the technical performance of existing buildings, considering the importance of the entire building and the interdependence of its parts. A questionnaire survey to identify the main defects that affect the technical performance of a building was administered. The system was then validated on a university campus that houses 22 buildings. The results revealed three main applications of the proposed system: a comprehensive asset analysis, a building operation analysis, and a risk analysis system.

ACS Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. Building Inspection System for Evaluating the Technical Performance of Existing Buildings. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities 2018, 32, 04018073 .

AMA Style

Rafaela Bortolini, Núria Forcada. Building Inspection System for Evaluating the Technical Performance of Existing Buildings. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. 2018; 32 (5):04018073.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafaela Bortolini; Núria Forcada. 2018. "Building Inspection System for Evaluating the Technical Performance of Existing Buildings." Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities 32, no. 5: 04018073.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2018 in Measurement
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Marcel Macarulla; Miquel Casals; Núria Forcada; Marta Gangolells; Alberto Giretti. Estimation of a room ventilation air change rate using a stochastic grey-box modelling approach. Measurement 2018, 124, 539 -548.

AMA Style

Marcel Macarulla, Miquel Casals, Núria Forcada, Marta Gangolells, Alberto Giretti. Estimation of a room ventilation air change rate using a stochastic grey-box modelling approach. Measurement. 2018; 124 ():539-548.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Marcel Macarulla; Miquel Casals; Núria Forcada; Marta Gangolells; Alberto Giretti. 2018. "Estimation of a room ventilation air change rate using a stochastic grey-box modelling approach." Measurement 124, no. : 539-548.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2017 in Journal of Management in Engineering
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It is vital to select the right project bidders, as this affects the success of a project. Although there are numerous methods for assessing bidders, communication is rarely taken into account. This paper discusses the results of a survey on communication key performance indicators (KPIs) and the success of construction projects. Data were collected from 390 construction partners in Spain. The results indicate that the most significant communication KPI is the quality of information: basically, its accuracy and timeliness. In addition, experienced respondents placed less importance on communication flow structures and communication management than did inexperienced respondents. Experienced respondents distrusted new trends and/or management theories and mainly relied on experience. The findings also reveal that the communication flow structure, the communication and information management plan, and the channels of communication are relevant aspects for the success of a project. The results of this research can be used to assess bidders’ communication abilities and systems.

ACS Style

Nuria Forcada; Carles Serrat; Sonia Rodríguez; Rafaela Bortolini. Communication Key Performance Indicators for Selecting Construction Project Bidders. Journal of Management in Engineering 2017, 33, 04017033 .

AMA Style

Nuria Forcada, Carles Serrat, Sonia Rodríguez, Rafaela Bortolini. Communication Key Performance Indicators for Selecting Construction Project Bidders. Journal of Management in Engineering. 2017; 33 (6):04017033.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nuria Forcada; Carles Serrat; Sonia Rodríguez; Rafaela Bortolini. 2017. "Communication Key Performance Indicators for Selecting Construction Project Bidders." Journal of Management in Engineering 33, no. 6: 04017033.