The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of implementing the International Organisation for Standardisation asset management standard (ISO 55000) on organisational performance. In particular, does following the ISO 55000 requirements and recommendations affect organisational performance? This study investigates this issue by identifying relevant asset management key performance indicators (KPIs) through a comprehensive literature review and classifying these KPIs using the balanced-scorecard-framework. Then, the KPIs were validated by expert opinions through a questionnaire and non-parametric hypothesis testing. Finally, using the relevant KPIs, this study assesses the impact of ISO 55000 with a set of ISO 55000-certified companies in the United Arab Emirates. Hypothesis testing on the difference between the status of each KPI before and after ISO 55000 implementation used linguistic assessment and a sign test for two non-parametric dependent samples. According to industry experts, increasing market share is not a relevant KPI in asset management. However, ISO 55000 has a positive effect on all the identified perspectives (financial, customer, business processes, and learning and growth), indicating that organisations adopting ISO 55000 International Standard certification will be able to achieve better performance from the effective and efficient management of their assets. Consequently, investing in such systems is valuable.

The purpose of this study is to develop a list of building sustainability criteria and prioritize them in order to identify the most important ones for the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study also aims to assess buildings as heritage, ordinary modern or sustainable modern buildings with respect to defined sustainability criteria, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Comparing sustainability aspects in both heritage and modern buildings can clarify which ones use more sustainability principles and this can integrate the best principles in both heritage and modern buildings to produce new buildings with better performance. The methodological approach is survey-based, using the answers obtained through questionnaires. Based on a literature review, the main criteria and sub-criteria were defined. A comparison of the relative importance between the rating criteria was made within the framework of the AHP, based on expert opinion, that would allow unambiguous prioritization of the decision-making factors and lead to a consistent result. The study assumes that all participants in the survey are experts who have knowledge of sustainability and buildings and their answers were truthful and reliable. The opinions of stakeholders, owners and building occupants were not taken into consideration. This research contributes to the field of building industry and sustainability. It broadens the understanding of sustainability assessment criteria as well as the degree of importance and validity of each criterion applied to assess the level of sustainability of heritage and modern buildings in the UAE.