# Unboxing Buildings: Engaging with Occupants during Design, Testing and Use
## 3 Three Examples from Interdisciplinary Norwegian Building Research
### Handling over to Occupants  
The Norwegian research project \"Evaluation of housing with low energy needs\" (2012-2016) (23; 26), examined the building process, measured energy use and indoor climate parameters, and evaluated occupant experience in eight low-energy housing areas in Norway, including 74 households (59 passive houses, 5 zero-emission houses, and 10 low-energy houses) (see Table 1). The users were not involved in the early phase planning of the houses. Although in some of the cases they could influence material choices and adjust the floorplan. The hand-over phase from construction experts to occupants was among the topics investigated in the semi-structured interviews with professionals and occupants in the eight cases, conducted by the authors of this article. The hand-over phase is found to be critical for efficient operation of technical systems such as balanced ventilation, photovoltaics, or solar thermal technology in low-energy homes. The information provided by those responsible for the technical solution, construction, and development leads to \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**School 2019**(24)} & **No of interviews with** **with** **with** **teachers/pupils** & **No. of interviews with professionals** & **Role of the authors in the data collection** & **Methodological approach** Post-occupancy evaluation \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{_Phase 2_} & 1 interview with a member of the teaching and administration staff. & 1 technical staff & \multirow{8}{*}{One of the authors following a site that included daylight measurements by engineers.} & Semi-structured interview. \\  & 1 interview with a member of the teaching and administration & 1 observation of problem solving during a site visit & & \\  & & 1 observation of problem solving during a site visit & & \\  & 2 Spontaneous observations & that included daylight measurements by engineers. & & \\  & & & & \\  & & & & \\  & during site visits. & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Housing** **cooperative 2019**(25)} & **No. of** **households** **interviewed** & **No. of interviews with professionals** & **Role of the authors in the data collection** & **Methodological approach** Quick time methods used over a 3-month project period \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{_Phase 1_(25)} & & 6 focus group interviews with 17 people including the housing cooperatives administration & \multirow{8}{*}{One of the authors developed the interview guide, conducted all the interviews.} & Focus group interviews. Each interview took 60–90 min. & \\  & & (made up of residents), technical management team, a team of 2 consulting engineers (CE) and actors from energy supply companies. & & \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{_Phase 2_} & 1 workshop with approx. 60 professionals from the construction industry. & One of the authors in followed up discussions in phase 2 & Action research during workshops and meetings. \\  & & & & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & & & Workshop approx. 7 h. \\ \cline{1-1}  & & & & Meetings were each approx. \\ \cline{1-1}  & & & & 60 min. No recordings. Notes. \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: _Cont._positive or negative end-user experiences and can in turn affect building performance [27]. During the period after first moving in, occupants adjust to their new home, developing habits and routines for the use of integrated technologies that can impact on building performance. The findings reveal a gap between the attitudes of the professionals, the information they provided, and the needs of the occupants. The response of construction experts towards the expected need for information and training of the occupants in the hand-over phase varied. In four cases, housing developers did not adjust their hand-over procedures to zero emission or passive houses, which were new in the market at that time. The procedure was standard, even though several technical solutions applied (solar thermal, PV, floor heating powered by RES) were not common.