The Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is pleased to share that Ms Sanduni Peiris, a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Joseph H.K. Lai and Professor Mohan Kumaraswamy, has received two prestigious awards at the CIB World Building Congress 2025, held at Purdue University, USA.
Sanduni was presented with the Best Paper Award in the category W070 – Facilities Management and Maintenance, and the 4th Emerald Award, which also includes a cash prize of GBP 100, in recognition of her research paper titled "Developing a Smart Retrofitting Decision-Making Model for Office Buildings: A Case Study."
The awarded paper presents a multi-criteria decision-making model that supports facility managers in selecting optimal smart retrofit options. By integrating expert input, retrofit project data and a final ranking process, the study provides a structured and transparent evaluation tool for use in real-world retrofitting scenarios. The model was validated through a case study on a 40-storey office building in Hong Kong.
Sanduni’s work contributes to the advancement of data-driven decision-making in the built environment and aligns with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
The Department congratulates Sanduni on this outstanding achievement and wishes her continued success in her academic journey.
