Towards the development of a systematic approach for sustainability assessment of educational infrastructure: A system of priority areas and design quality indicators

Abstract

Design quality indicators have yet to be widely applied for assessing the sustainability of educational infrastructure. In this sector, the indicators have centred around seismic resilience and energy performance in case-oriented studies dependent on primary data collection. However, access to good quality data about the building stock in European Union member states is required to support the planning of beneficial public educational infrastructure. The aim of this paper is to establish the process of developing a set of key design quality indicators for educational infrastructure in line with European legislation and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. In total, 31 design quality indicators are proposed to cover the following priority areas: building stock and safety, user experience, energy efficiency, digital infrastructure and equipment, and environment (emissions and natural resources). These proposed priority areas and analysis of the available data reveal a situation in which national and international decision-making authorities are constrained by the lack of data and their accuracy, obsolescence and vagueness. Currently, one cannot make an unbiased decision on the investments required for educational infrastructure. This means the greatest value of this work lies in potential application of the comprehensive system of priority areas and design quality indicators for international performance comparisons and evidence-based policy decision-making processes related to educational infrastructure, for example, investments, engineering and social matters.