K-12: Making Sure the Building You Designed Operates to Intended HSW Specifications

Over the past decade owners have imposed more sophisticated requirements on building designers. Buildings must ensure a comfortable and healthy environment, run using very little energy, and require minimal maintenance. Buildings are more complex, but once designed, how do you know they’ll operate as intended for the next several decades? Turns out, the more complex the building the less likely it’s going to operate consistent with design intent right from turnover. Many owners struggle for years to get the environmental system (HVAC/controls) to operate as designed, and some never do.

This session identifies current technical and contractual deficiencies in owners’ purchasing processes that make it less likely buildings will operate as intended. We’ll show that many operational deficiencies are preventable during the development, documentation, and construction phases of the project, and can be verified during post-occupancy evaluation. To mitigate deficiencies as well as to deliver higher efficiency buildings, ASHRAE released Guideline 36 High Performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems in June 2018, which focuses on operations and provides the basis of this approach.

1.5 LU/HSW AIA credits are available.