As a facility manager, you're likely always looking for ways to improve your building's performance and reduce energy consumption. One of the ways you can accomplish this is to implement a retro-commissioning program within your facility. Retro-commissioning, or RCx, involves identifying and fixing problems in an existing building's systems to optimize performance and reduce [...]
When the COVID-19 outbreak hit the northeast, Connecticut was quick to take initiative and implement measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. One of these measures was to conduct studies on the indoor air quality and ventilation rates of the state’s educational facilities. While the numerous companies assisting with these studies and corrections [...]
There’s no one size fits all solution for selecting and sampling envelope testing specimens. Each project is a different size with differing types of windows and owners with unique needs and goals. All these variables play a factor when approaching envelope testing on a project. Specifications might outline exactly how the testing should be [...]
While you could wait until construction starts before bringing a Commissioning Agent (CxA) onboard, you’d be missing out on significant benefits by waiting until that point, and could even be doing your project a disservice. Involving a CxA early in the process will help you make sure your goals and needs for the project [...]
Retro-Commissioning (RCx), sometimes referred to as Existing Building Commissioning (EBCx), is an important process for optimizing the performance of existing buildings. It involves the comprehensive evaluation of a building’s systems, their components, and how they interact with each other. The goal of RCx is to identify areas of improvement in the building’s operation maintenance, [...]
When performing envelope testing, whether spray testing or adhesion testing, the results are clear immediately following the test. Same-day results could trick some into thinking that the benefits of envelope testing are short-term. However, most of the benefits of building envelope testing occur in the long term, as they provide peace of mind that [...]
What are the Connecticut State Building Code Commissioning Requirements? Building and energy codes are constantly changing, evolving and often reference additional codes and standards. In the State of Connecticut, commissioning is not only standard good practice for construction but also a code-driven requirement in the Connecticut State Building Code. Like all codes, they often [...]
Across the nation, various energy efficiency, sustainable and high performance programs require building commissioning to be incorporated into construction projects. Many national, state, and municipal codes also require commissioning. While engaging a design and construction team in a project is standard practice, commissioning still is often approached with ambiguity. Given how long commissioning has [...]
Building envelope testing is an important quality control measure for nearly all construction projects, but there are times when pursuing envelope testing does not make sense because it is not adding value to the project. More and more project leaders are testing their windows, roofs, and air-vapor barriers to ensure that their building is [...]
As the field of commissioning has grown and evolved over the past 25+ years, it has become a valued component of building projects in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (A/E/C) industry. There are hundreds of highly respected and qualified commissioning providers throughout the country. Many of them are part of a team within larger engineering firms. When [...]
