Standards for products, processes and management systems are important tools for the much-needed sustainable transformation of the built environment. With standards, we refer to documents coming from standardisations bodies such as ASTM/ANSI (USA), BSI (UK), CEN (Europe), and ISO (global). The purpose is to investigate the role standards play in current research to exemplify various ways CIB and standardisation bodies can combine efforts for a sustainable transformation of the built environment (BE). Scientific journal articles were identified though literature review. The paper focuses on the building’s use and operation phase and especially the new Facility Management (FM) standards (ISO 41000 series) developed by the technical committee ISO/TC267. Our findings are based on a closer analysis of 10 journal articles from 2010-2021 after identifying 198 relevant articles. The articles refer to a broad range of standards which proves the relevance of standards in building research. There are no proves of how research has influenced standards, only examples of research aiming to enhance standards. Improving and implementing international FM standards is a driver to improve the BE sustainability. CIB and the standardisation bodies have an important role to accelerate the societal transition processes and contributing to society’s demands of sustainability and resilience.
Purpose Researchers and standardisation bodies are key to accelerating societal transition and contributing to society’s demands for sustainability, resilience and digitalisation. Standards are the agreed-upon best practices published by national or international bodies and are key enablers of transformation. Scholars have not yet identified a relationship between standards and facilities management (FM) research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of formal standards in FM research. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was conducted to identify journal articles addressing standards and FM. A total of 198 journal articles published from 2010 to 2021 were identified. After screening these articles, 27 journal articles were considered the most relevant for data analysis. Findings The findings show that the role of standards in research can be analysed thematically, categorically, textually, methodologically and directionally. Standards are relevant to research by defining terms, creating backgrounds, guiding research, supporting the development of new standards and encouraging more collaboration between research and standardisation. Some studies have shown how standards influence research, but only a few have explored how research influences standards. Research limitations/implications This research provides examples that inspire stronger collaboration between people and processes in research and standardisation. Originality/value The articles collected and analysed in this study comprise original research. A limited preliminary study of ten core articles was presented at the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction World Congress 2022. This presentation of this work provides an expanded framework for analysing the roles of standards in research. This framework includes (1) categorical analysis of research and standardisation streams; (2) thematic analysis of the topic of interest; (3) textual analysis of the use of the term “standard”; (4) methodological analysis of the influence of standards on the research method; and (5) directional analysis of the intended audience.
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