In High Performance HVAC Design, Facility Manager Plays Key Role
June 29, 2012
Today’s tip from
Building Operating Management comes from Jeffrey L. Heiken of KlingStubbins.
In a high-performance building design process, the owner or facility manager should be an integral part of the design team, aware of costs and benefits early and throughout the process.
The new normal for design is to continue to improve upon building performance and do more with less. Budgets need to be met and elements need to be fluid, but having the project ownership engaged and a part of the process is essential to protecting the high performance design elements. Otherwise, there’s a risk that VE will stand not for Value Engineering but Value Elimination. And of course owners will have to ensure that the building is operated to continue to achieve energy savings projected by the energy model.
Another key player in the integrated design team is the cost estimator. Because of the large number of options, it is important to know the cost implications of each very quickly to streamline the decision making process. Ultimately, without accurate estimations, the payback and life cycle cost analyses lose validity.
In the effort to find the right combination of design elements that will lead to a high-performance building with a high-performance HVAC system and a sustainable design, the design team has to be able to integrate many elements. It's a complicated process that depends on interaction among members of the team when decisions are being made about high-performance curtain walls, enhanced insulation walls, or solar shading elements. It typically takes several iterations of the energy model to arrive at a decision on each element. On the most successful projects, the owner has bought into the process and has gained a thorough understanding on where and how each item is valuable to achieving the ultimate goal of a high-performance building.
This has been a
Building Operating Management Tip of the Day. Thanks for listening.
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