Most organisations nowadays want to build offices that are cost effective, but at the same time they forget to consider the impact of IEQ on the occupants’ wellbeing and performance. These offices are equipped with air-conditioners, which may impact negatively on performances if not monitored, controlled and maintained. An occupant’s performance may be accelerated or reduced, based on the effectiveness of IEQ in the office buildings. It is imperative that the employer or management create a work environment that is conducive to the occupants’ needs, so that the occupants may be able to improve their work performance that often yields increased productivity. The main aim of the study was to investigate the efficiency of a building’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and how it affects workers with regard to productivity. The objectives of the study were: to determine the level of satisfaction of the occupants in terms of the IEQ, evaluate the effects that the current IEQ of the building has on the productivity of the occupants, and proffer solutions to identified problems so that the building performance can be improved, and similar future buildings can be improved upon in terms of IEQ. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) was utilised to conduct the evaluation. This will help stakeholders and managements to ensure that past mistakes committed are not repeated in the future buildings. POE analyses IEQ related to Indoor Air Quality (IEQ), thermal comfort, occupant’s satisfaction and occupant performance and productivity. There is a correlation between different indoor parameters of the occupants’ satisfaction, health and productivity at the workplace. For these correlations to complement each other successfully, IEQ factors must be conducive to human wellbeing. Workplace environments are perceived as unsafe and unhygienic. This situation is caused by poor planning of workstations, low indoor air quality, inappropriate lighting in the office, lack of ventilation and insufficient safety measures. In particular, findings of this study demonstrate the low level of occupants’ satisfaction with regard to office buildings in the Country Club Estate, Johannesburg. The results from this study show that POE is perceived to be completely new to occupants of the Country Club Estate. Management or stakeholders have a huge task ahead to address the benefits of implementing POE and to face the consequences if POE is not implemented.

A successful architect often finds, during the course of his life and practice, that he needs to expand both his office and his house. The object of this thesis is to investigate various ways of satisfying these needs, for an anonymous architect of considerable repute, in order to arrive at the desirable and economical solution under present economic conditions in Danville, Virginia. / Master of Science

Research report is submitted in partial fulfilment to the requirement of the degree of Master of Science (Building) in the field of Property Development and Management, to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to explore the type of office spaces in South Africa together with the presence of generational and cultural/ethnic differences in employee’s perception in the office environment on particular aspects. The research was carried out as a single case study of an office using private consultancy firm, located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Questionnaires were sent out to employees based in various segments within the firm. The study showed that the leading office typology is open plan/group office spaces as opposed to all other office configurations within the firm, such as private/cellular offices. The case study highlights the trade-off between collaboration and privacy in the primary office typology, open plan office spaces. The findings demonstrated that no significant differences exist between the different generations’ and cultures’ ability to conduct activities which are influenced by personal and interpersonal aspects of the office spaces. Furthermore, findings illustrated that no generational and cultural differences exist in the environmental, personal and design aspects of the office space. Lastly, findings showed that generational and cultural differences do exist in group cohesion and intension to stay. The main limitation of research is the small sample size which may have resulted in an untrue reflection in the generalisation of the population. The paper’s findings add to the cultural and ethnic differences experienced in open plan offices on personal/interpersonal, environmental and design aspects. Further studies need to explore the possible theoretical links between the workspace, group cohesion, intension to stay and productivity for South African office using firms. Keywords: generational differences, cultural/ethnic difference, employees’ experiences, collaboration, privacy, team work / MT2017