Building performance assessment applications require multiple categories of input information. These include, aside from building construction and systems and external conditions, representations of inhabitants. It has been suggested that the representation of people as passive and static entities is unlikely to yield reliable building performance assessment and building operation planning. Rather, adequate representations of building inhabitants should account for dynamics of inhabitants’ presence in buildings and their control-oriented actions (e.g. interactions with buildings indoor environmental control devices and systems). To address these requirements, many recent model development efforts have explored the potential of advanced mathematical formalisms. However, the resulting occupancy-related behavioural models have rarely gone through a rigorous evaluation process. The present contribution is indeed motivated primarily by the lack of explicit procedures and guidelines for the evaluation of proposed user-related behavioural models. Specifically, we formulate a number of conditions that are necessary for systematic and dependable quality assessment of buildings’ inhabitants. Towards this end, we discuss both general model evaluation requirements and specific circumstances pertaining to behavioural models of building inhabitants. By using specific instances of such models, we intend to identify the requirements of a rigorous quality assurance process with regard to behavioural models in building performance assessment applications
