6C — July 23 - August 19, 2021 — Owners, Developers & Managers — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
O wners , D evelopers & M anagers
By Keith Nelson, NCARB, AIA, CDT, BCxP & Steve Shanks, CxA, BECxP, ECS Mid-Atlantic Building Envelope Performance: You CAN Always Get What You Want
B
uilding Envelope Com- missioning (BECx) is a team process of de -
(BECx Provider), starts at the pre-design phase, and contin- ues throughout construction
Mission Critical facilities. The scope of BECx is custom - ized to meet the project-specific goals and risk tolerance rela- tive to the building envelope including, but not limited to, oc- cupant comfort; indoor environ - mental quality (IEQ); heat, air & moisture control; moisture accumulation/condensation re- sistance; and code compliance. The project specific schedule, budget, and team experience must also be considered in the BECx process. BECx imple - mentation is most often driven by an Owner focused on long- term quality performance;
however, it is becoming more common for model codes, local jurisdictions, governmental agencies, and third-party sus- tainability programs to require BECx - or portions of BECx - for compliance. The BECx process begins in pre-design with establish- ment of the Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) and runs in parallel to the project de- livery process to confirm the building envelope design meets or exceeds the expectations of the Owner, as described in the OPR and defined by the contract documents. The OPR
is developed by the Owner and provides direction to the design and construction teams. An important component of the process, and required in most codes and standards, is that the BECx Provider shall be retained by the Owner and be able to demonstrate and main- tain independence throughout the BECx process during De - sign, Procurement, Construc- tion, and Occupancy phases of the project. The Owner’s Project Re- quirements (OPR) is the foundation document of a successful Commissioning (Cx) process. It is critical in ensuring the commissioning process meets the Owner's goals. The OPR defines the cost and schedule require- ments, risk profile, perfor - mance goals, energy and op- erational benchmarks, opera- tional approaches, and success criteria for the project. When possible, metrics to evaluate performance need to be spe - cific and measurable to allow demonstration of compliance through functional perfor - mance verification. The BECx Plan identifies the project spe - cific milestone tasks where the design and construction are evaluated against the OPR for conformance. Milestone tasks may include: Design Assist Meetings, Design Docu- ment Review, Procurement Support, RFI Identification/ Resolution, Submittal Re- views, Mockup Observation & Testing, Quality Assurance Observations, Functional Per- formance Testing, and Post- Occupancy Evaluations. ECS (Engineering Consult- ing Services) is an employee- owned consulting engineering firm with offices throughout the country. Over the past 33 years, ECS has achieved na- tional recognition, ranking #68 on the Engineer News Record (ENR) list of top Engineering Firms. We have accomplished this great honor by making our clients our number one prior- ity and offering them timely, cost-effective, professional so - lutions to their challenges. We recently expanded our already broad capabilities within our Facilities Group, specifically in the areas of Building Envelope Consulting, including Build- ing Envelope Commissioning (BECx). We continue to expand our abilities and our geographic presence to help our clients by continued on page 9C
f ining r i sk m e t r i c s , documenting performance expectations, and impl e - me n t i ng a plan to verify the design, p r o c u r e -
and into the ope r a t i ons pha s e . A l l projects can benefit from this focus on qual i ty as- surance and BEC x h a s the highest
Keith Nelson
Steve Shanks
ment, construction, and op- eration of the building envelope to meet or exceed expectations. The BECx process is led by a qualified third-party provider
value to projects where long- term performance and risk mitigation is critical, such as Governmental, Educational, Institutional, Healthcare, and
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