When Design for Performance (DfP) was first introduced in the UK, it aimed to fix one of the industry’s biggest challenges — the gap between how buildings are designed to perform and how they actually perform in use.
That “performance gap,” first highlighted in 2017 by experts like Robert Cohen and Paul Bannister, revealed a major difference between the UK and Australia’s commercial property markets. While Australia’s NABERS program rated actual operational energy use, the UK relied heavily on predicted performance during design. The result was predictable: higher-than-expected energy use, higher carbon emissions, and missed efficiency targets.
H2: From Design Intent to Verified Performance
Since 2017, the UK has made significant progress in bridging this gap. The launch of NABERS UK in 2020 brought a performance-based certification to the market, giving owners a trusted way to measure real-world energy use in office buildings.
The Design for Performance framework, administered by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and supported by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), ensures that new buildings are designed with verified, operational outcomes in mind — not just compliance on paper.
Together, NABERS UK and DfP have shifted the conversation from design-stage predictions to in-use evidence. Assessors trained under the scheme now measure actual energy use, enabling owners to identify inefficiencies, prioritise upgrades, and improve sustainability ratings year after year.
How Design for Performance Is Closing the Gap
By integrating DfP principles, UK developers and asset owners can:
Model and verify energy performance before and after occupation.
Align design, commissioning, and operations to ensure consistent outcomes.
Benchmark buildings against NABERS UK performance standards.
Enable accountability between designers, operators, and owners.
This has already resulted in tangible market shifts. Developers now consider operational energy efficiency as early as RIBA Stage 2, and new office developments often target specific NABERS UK star ratings from day one.
The Role of Building Analytics in DfP Success
While DfP sets the framework, it’s continuous analytics that ensures performance is maintained over time. That’s where analytics plays a critical role.
Bueno connects directly to BMS, metering, HVAC, and IEQ systems, providing five-minute visibility into building performance. Our analytics platform continuously monitors, detects, and verifies system behaviour — giving owners the confidence that their buildings are delivering the outcomes predicted under DfP.
With Bueno, property teams can:
Detect and resolve performance drift before it affects NABERS ratings.
Verify post-occupancy efficiency and comfort metrics.
Track continuous improvement across building portfolios.
Maintain ongoing alignment with DfP targets through real-time insights.
Why Continuous Monitoring Matters
The Design for Performance model doesn’t end at handover — it begins there.
Once a building is occupied, even small changes to control settings, occupant loads, or HVAC tuning can quickly erode performance.
Continuous monitoring through platforms like Bueno ensures that DfP outcomes remain stable. Every fault, override, or efficiency opportunity is automatically identified and prioritised by energy impact — closing the loop between design, operation, and optimisation.
Lessons from Australia – and the UK’s Next Chapter
Australia’s NABERS model has proven the value of verified, in-use performance. Buildings that continuously monitor and optimise their energy use consistently achieve higher ratings, lower operational costs, and greater asset value.
The UK is now following that trajectory. The growing adoption of NABERS UK and DfP has already begun transforming how buildings are financed, designed, and maintained. As operational transparency becomes the norm, analytics and ongoing verification will define building excellence.
Bueno’s Advantage – Turning DfP into Action
At Bueno, our mission is to make DfP principles actionable at scale. Our platform brings together advanced fault detection, energy analytics, and predictive optimisation — ensuring that every building operates as designed.
Bueno enables:
Continuous validation of building performance against DfP targets.
Integration with NABERS UK reporting for verified, audit-ready insights.
AI-assisted diagnostics that pinpoint inefficiencies and prioritise actions.
Portfolio-wide visibility, helping owners benchmark and improve performance across assets.
It’s how we help organisations move beyond compliance to continuous excellence — transforming DfP from a design framework into an operational reality.
The Future of Performance-Based Design
As the UK accelerates toward net zero, Design for Performance will shape the next generation of commercial real estate.
With robust frameworks like NABERS UK, transparent reporting from CIBSE and BBP, and real-time analytics from Bueno, the industry now has the tools to deliver — and sustain — true building performance.
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