Filling in the Gaps

A Participatory Post Occupancy Evaluation
of Public Housing in Coolaroo West

methodology:

THE SURVEY

Style and Content

The survey used in the project is a hybrid, based on two surveys commissioned by the Ministry of Housing in its project entitled, "Design Evaluation for Housing" - Report to the National Building Technology Centre (MOH May 1977). Copies of these surveys, "Post Construction Evaluation Questionnaire" and "Post Occupancy Design Evaluation Questionnaire" are reprinted in that volume.

The use of the "Post Construction Evaluation Questionnaire" survey meant that the MOHC's expectations of its stock could be applied. No attempt has been made however to analyze the MOHC's expectation and determine if they in fact are up to the levels of expectation held by Coolaroo West Tenants or the broader community.

It was hoped that the project survey would also highlight the fit between the actual stock as constructed, and the mandatory requirements from the design standards as indicated in the "Post Construction Evaluation Questionnaire". There was also the desire to pick up qualitative data to give a picture of tenant perceptions.

There were, of course, the usual difficulties and errors in production of the survey. It has been assumed that the responses to question 15/1 are intended to indicate a marked preference of MOHC stock to private housing ratio. However, the ambiguity of the information as collected meant that it could not be included.

A draft form of the survey was circulated at a meeting of the Steering Committee which was also attended by other interested tenants and MOHC representatives. The scope of questions were felt to be exhaustive and extremely intensive. It was anticipated that the bulk of the workers time would be consumed in completing and collating the survey.

SAMPLE SELECTION

The actual identification of the three bedroom houses to be evaluated in the project was a shared task. There were several key factors which were picked up in the aims, the most obvious being standards of construction. Further to this it was obvious that any analysis must look at not only what was supplied by the builders through the Ministry, but to whom it was supplied.

In an attempt to cover the range of construction companies with the initial construction times sampled were 1976-1983. Later it was decided that this should be widened to include more recently completed houses. A list of about ninety houses which covered the nine known builders was compiled. The MOHC then categorised the tenant families according to household size.

To look fully at the question of household size, selection categories were adopted. Avoiding the question of "what is a family?" it was assumed that the MOHC would only have allocated houses to groups consisting of at least one adult (the applicant) with at least one dependent child.

Process

To start the process the Letting List, a list of MOHC properties was correlated with the Ministry's Analysis of Stock Type for Coolaroo West. From this we produced a table containing address, construction type and year of construction, With the aid of this new list a visual identification of builders was made. At a later stage when floor plans were received from the Ministry this material was cross checked and found to be 99% accurate.

From the 200+ three bedroom houses which could have been surveyed complete information was available for about ninety. To ensure confidentiality the list of properties was submitted to the Area Office for family designation.

Information on the project was sent to ninety households asking them to participate directly in the project. From this list the family on the top of the list for each size and builder was selected to have their house surveyed. This reduced the total number of completed surveys to 30. This was a manageable and yet representative number given the detailed nature of the information required. As the project progressed the original list of 90 was again consulted to "top up" the sample.

Again, further into the project the progress of data collection was received. At this latter stage it became obvious that there would be some "holes" in the sample. These were caused by the fact that some builders built only large or small houses, so several other houses were added to the sample to include more recently completed houses enabling the full range of builders to be evaluated. This brought the age range of evaluated stock up to more recent times (1976-1990). A total of nine different builders' work was surveyed.

OTHER SOURCES

The MOHC has some experience in the area of post occupancy evaluation and in surveying stock condition. The Ministry's reports cited in the bibliography proved valuable during the project. Literature searches of various libraries turned up further valuable material on post occupancy evaluations, "community architecture" and participatory design. All of this has had a large impact on the way the project was perceived and conducted as it was owned by the residents and not "done" by "outside experts".

The Ministry also allowed the project workers access to original documentation for many houses. This allowed some comparison between the houses as planned and actually built. The Appendix "Typical Floor Plans" illustrates and discusses some of these aspects as well as the question of appropriate spatial relationships.

There was little in the way of formal work which could be gleaned from the MMA and MAV. Some anecdotal evidence was available, but it was extremely hard to verify. It was felt that only the more reliable material should be used in this project. The contact however, did reinforce the knowledge that a need exists in the community for participatory post occupancy evaluation of MOHC stock.

The Heat Report published by the Public Tenants Union (PTU) in 1988 was a good indicator of the style of work at which the project was aimed. Discussion with PTU workers about some of the logistical problems proved beneficial.

The following family or household size categories were chosen:

Adult(s) with 1-2 children - small family

Adult(s) with 3-4 children - medium family

Adult(s) with 5+ children - large family

This definition enabled the inclusion of extended families.

It was hoped that data from 1986 census on ethnicity of the Coolaroo population could be used as a guide for the sample, to ensure a representative spread. Unfortunately MOHC did not tabulate such information in its tenants prior to 1985.

Several bi-lingual residents agreed to facilitate adequate communication in cases where the project workers were unable to communicate to tenants in their preferred language.