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The flexible partition, one of the main components of the flexible housing schemes in West European countries exhibited a comparative technological lack. This research investigated the adaptability of selected commercial flexible partitions available in the North American market to residences since the most realistic way to influence the technological process was to start from the known products and developing them in an innovative direction. The consequences of the proposed sectoral transfer were seen as immediate and long term effects and categorized into three groups of constraints: legal, technological and marketing constraints. The context of evaluation was drawn, and the performance concept was used to form a set of evaluation criteria. Fifty partition systems were reviewed, characterized and mismatched portions were screened out. The analysis with thirteen selected partition systems suggested that the performances of most of them were above the level required for dwelling. The study showed that most of them were economically more feasible as compared to fixed gyproc partitions if life-cycle costs were considered. Since the study showed that the partitions were sound in technical terms, it recommended further studies to look into the matter of modifying them by introducing new materials which would cut down the unnecessary performances and might reduce the initial cost as well.

Corporate Real Estate (CRE) investors are often confronted with a need for flexibility in buildings. They often embark on costly renovations to accommodate changing use requirements. When new needs arise, landlords and tenants often risk loss due to inability to easily switch to configurations that can meet those needs. The main cause for this problem is lack of a planning model that can allow buildings to easily evolve over time allowing decision-makers to hedge investment positions against risk due to uncertainty. The emergence of Real Options (RO) theory in the 1970's has led to debates in search of a better planning model for real projects. The success of RO application in building construction (BC) hinges on the development of models that can be used to assess economic performance of flexible design options (FDO) in building systems. For building interior spaces, there is currently no model that can value flexibility of partition systems. The purpose of this study is to present a model that can be used to value flexibility in mutually exclusive partition systems over a project's life span. The proposed model uses decision tree representation, stochastic forecasting and random sampling of decision-path scenarios to generate cumulative risk profiles of partition systems' life cycle costs with expected median value, standard deviation and variance to inform decision making under uncertainty. The research processes include: assumptions, decision-making structure for identification of uncertain variable, model representation, spreadsheet programming, Monte Carlo simulation, and validation. The model will enable application of RO "in" BC projects.