General Managers' and building managers' different evaluation of building value and quality - as built and over time

This paper is one of the results of a research project on real estate strategies and building values based on a case study of the corporate buildings of DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The paper presents some of the results from a questionnaire survey among select groups of managers in DR concerning their evaluation of 5 buildings. The overall purpose of the survey was to evaluate the different buildings’ values and quality, both as built and over time. A second purpose was to develop and test a methodology to describe the values and quality of buildings at a general but still differentiated manner. The respondents were evenly distributed on general managers and building managers and a third purpose was to investigate the differences in the evaluations between these two groups. The evaluations were based on the respondents’ answers to questions concerning a number of quality factors for each building. Furthermore, the respondents were asked to prioritize the quality factors. In the analysis the quality factors were grouped into cultural value and use value and into quality as built and over time. The paper presents the general results of the survey with focus on the differences between the evaluations of general managers’ and building managers’ views on the values and quality of corporate buildings. The implications of such differences for the way building managers communicate with general managers and how architects approach and collaborate with large corporations is discussed.