Building System Commissioning and
ReCommissioning
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
What We’ll Cover
DEFINE BUILDING COMMISSIONING (CX)
DEFINE THE PROCESS
COMMISSIONING: WHO NEEDS IT AND AT WHAT COST
BENEFITS OF COMMISSIONING
RECOMMISSIONING (RE-CX)
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Building System Commissioning (Cx)
New Construction
•
Commissioning is a systematic process of ensuring that
all building systems perform interactively according to
the design intent and the owners operational needs. This
is achieved by beginning in the design phase,
documenting the design intent and continuing through
construction, acceptance and warranty period with actual
verification of performance.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
•
Design Phase Cx Requirements
- During this phase of commissioning the objective is to
ensure the design team applies commissioning
concepts to the design. Commissioning focused design
reviews are conducted.
- Additionally, the design team prepares commissioning
specifications and a commissioning plan for inclusion
in the bid documents.
- Meeting these objectives during design prepares the
way so that the:
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
Contractors can accurately bid the commissioning
work.
Contractors can understand how to efficiently
execute the commissioning process.
There is a systematic, efficient and enforceable
method to accomplish the commissioning objective.
The commissioning objectives are met.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
•
Construction & Acceptance Phase Cx
Requirements
- Commissioning during the construction phase of the project is
intended to achieve the following specific objectives:
Ensure that applicable equipment and systems are installed
properly and receive adequate operational checkout by
installing contractors.
Verify and document performance and equipment and
systems.
Ensure that O & M documentation left on site is complete
Ensure that owner’s operating personnel are adequately
trained.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
- During this phase the following activities occur:
The roles and responsibilities of the commissioning
team are defined.
A commissioning scoping meeting is planned and
conducted. In attendance are the respective
representatives of the GC, CM, CA, MP, A/C and the
mechanical, electrical, controls and TAB subs. At the
meeting commissioning parties are introduced and
the commissioning process reviewed.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
The draft commissioning plan is reviewed, process
questions are addressed, lines of reporting and
communications determined and the work products
list discussed. Also covered are the general list of
each party’s responsibility and the proposed
commissioning schedule.
The Commissioning Authority finalizes the draft Cx
plan using the information gathered from the scoping
meeting. The initial commissioning schedule is also
developed.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
The CxA make periodical site visits to the site as necessary,
to witness equipment and system installations.
The CxA provides the CM with monthly commissioning
progress reports. The CM may adjust the reporting
frequently as needed. The CxA also keeps a log of all
commissioning related issues that require current or future
attention.
The CxA provides prefunctional checklist and functional test
scripts for each piece of equipment commissioned.
The functional testing is conducted by the responsible
parties and witnessed by the CxA.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Define the Process
 The functional testing is conducted by the
responsible parties and witnessed by the CxA.
The CxA reviews the O & M manuals, documentation
and redline as builts for systems that were
commissioned to verify compliance with the
specification
The CxA will compile the final Cx report.
•
Post Acceptance/Warranty Period Commissioning
- During the warranty period, seasonal testing and other
deferred testing required is completed according to the
specification. The CxA coordinates this activity.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
ReCommissioning (Re-Cx)
•
Recommissioning of a previously commissioned facility
maintains the efficiency and optimization that the
commissioning originally provided and ensures that the
current owner’s operational needs are met.
•
The original commissioning plan provided to the owner
may contain a re-commissioning manual.
•
The Re-Cx manual will allow the facilities group the
ability to Re-Cx the facility, re-establishing the building
systems are operating efficiently and meeting the
owner’s operational needs.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
•
While all buildings can benefit from
commissioning, the complexity and type of
building will dictate the rigor and cost of the
commissioning process.
•
For discussion purposes we have broken building
types into four categories.
- Simple: office building, classrooms, packaged
equipment and controls; common systems, fewer
pieces of equipment.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
- Moderate: more complex offices, classrooms with some
labs, building automation, more control strategies,
fewer package equipment; more systems (fire,
emergency power, etc.)
- Complex: moderate plus most of floor area in complex
systems (hospitals, labs, operating rooms, clean rooms,
fume hoods or other non-HVAC systems are
commissioned such as electrical quality, transformers,
security, communications, etc.)
- Specialty: Very complex facilities like prisons.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
Estimating commissioning cost by floor area is a
method often used for rough estimates. The cost
estimate includes the cost of a commissioning agent
from early construction through warranty for HVAC and
controls, including lighting, but do not include low
voltage grounding, infrared scanning, power quality,
switchgear and transformer testing. The task
performed include submittal review, construction
observation, writing, overseeing and documenting
functional test and reviewing staff training and O & M
manuals.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
Commissioned System
•
HVAC and controls
•
Electrical system
•
HVAC, controls and
electrical
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning Cost
•
2.0% to 3.0% of total
mechanical cost
•
1.0% to 2.0% of total
electrical cost.
•
0.5% to 1.5% of total
construction cost
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
Estimates of Construction Phase Commissioning
Costs
$3.00
Commissioining
Cost, $/sq. ft.
$2.50
$2.00
$1.50
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Floor Area, Thousands of sq. ft.
Simple
Moderate
Complex
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Specialty
•
There are several things
to consider when
applying this cost such as
construction duration, by
project size, project
meeting requirements,
system complexity and
LEED requirements.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
• A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) study
that meticulously compiles and standardizes
commissioning data from 224 commercial building
experiences-may help owners overcome this hesitancy.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
• This U.S. DOE-funded study concludes that
commissioning is indeed cost-effective for both new and
existing buildings over a range of facility types and sizes,
not only in terms of energy savings but also in savings
from improved equipment lifetimes, reduced
maintenance, fewer contractor call-backs, and other nonenergy benefits. Investigators found that commissioning
existing buildings achieved median energy cost savings of
15%, with payback periods of 0.7 years.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Commissioning: Who Needs it and at
What Cost?
The median payback time for new buildings was 4.8
years, and when non-energy impacts were factored in,
those paybacks periods were considerably reduced,
often to zero. Looking beyond individual building
savings, the study suggests that widespread
commissioning of existing commercial building could
save the nation over $18 billion a year in energy costs
alone.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Benefits of Commissioning
•
•
•
•
•
Improved efficiency
Reduced change orders
Improved maintainability
Improved occupant comfort and productivity
Reduced operating cost
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Benefits of Commissioning
• Improved Efficiency
- Generally this is one of the easiest areas to
substantiate. There is quite a bit of public domain
information available that documents commissioning
savings in new construction.
• Reduced Change Orders
- One of the more commonly acknowledged benefits of
commissioning (especially design phase
commissioning) is that the process will reduce the
number of change orders encountered in a typical
construction cycle.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Benefits of Commissioning
• Improved Maintainability
- Many commissioning related improvements simply
make the system and equipment in a building easier to
service and maintain. A design phase commissioning
finding that makes an equipment room easily save tens
of thousands of dollars any time the machinery in the
room undergoes a major repair or replacement.
- Improvements that make routine and maintenance
services easier will also add up to significant savings
over the life of a building.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Benefits of Commissioning
• Improved Occupant Comfort & Productivity
- There is growing evidence to show that improved
occupant comfort translates directly to improved
productivity. Improved productivity translates directly to
an improved bottom line for most businesses.
• Reduced Operating Cost
- Commissioning related savings typically extend beyond
the construction budget and will show up year after
year as reduced operating and maintenance costs.
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.
Questions & Answers
© 2010 National Air Balance Company, Inc. Confidential.