Appropriateness of soft landings concept for avoiding malpractices in Sri Lankan building projects

“Soft Landings” (SL) is found to be a catch-all term that is added on to the technical jargon in the building industry over the recent past. Indeed, it is the most sensible wording that can be expected in an era where building gaps and underperformance is the least expected. The aim of this study was to ascertain the appropriateness of the SL strategy for minimizing the performance gaps in the buildings in Sri Lanka. The case study strategy that consisted of two expert interview rounds was adopted to achieve that aim. The results reveal that the causes of performance gaps that were identified from the industry were similar to the causes highlighted in the literature. These causes can be addressed in Sri Lanka with the SL Framework developed by the Building Services Research Information Association (BSRIA), after making the necessaryamendments to the duration of the aftercare period and the work plans of some stages.