J+J Flooring Group and The Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Environments (SAGE) have formed a partnership to establish the 2017 SAGE Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POE). POEs are used to improve the ways that buildings are designed and used to support productivity and well-being. Traditionally, POEs have been more common in office buildings, schools and universities, hotels, and hospitals. The multi-step, multi-year program will be the first-of-its-kind within the combined flooring and senior lifestyle spaces, according to the companies, and provide a sustainable platform to conduct ongoing post-occupancy evaluations of physical environments for older adults that involves the collaboration of numerous stakeholders.

J+J Flooring Group will provide funding for resources and administrative support for the SAGE POE. SAGE will work with J+J Flooring Group to leverage the company’s experts and relationships in the senior living sector during the development, implementation, presentation and publication of the report. J+J will also participate in all phases of the partnership and the POE process. The partnership will enable SAGE to build a robust library of POEs, a first step to fortifying current and future POE tools for collecting usable data on evidence-based design outcomes.

“The opportunity to be a part of an initiative that has the ability to transform an industry and have a highly positive impact on the life experiences in senior living is tremendous,” said Keith Gray, director of applied research for J+J Flooring. “We are committed to supporting meaningful research initiatives that align with the goals of SAGE and its members, and we are excited to learn the outcomes of the first POEs.”

Mitchell Elliott, president of SAGE, added, “Given the significant growth and complexities of the senior living industry, more and more innovations are coming to the marketplace and we believe that POEs are one of the most valuable tools to help further shape highly-successful physical environments for seniors. One of SAGE’s primary goals is to advance the knowledge about the planning and design strategies that enhance the quality of life for seniors. We believe that J+J Flooring is the best possible partner to help us achieve this goal. They are equally committed to elevating the life experience of seniors.”

For more information, visit www.jjflooringgroup.com or www.sagefederation.org.