Building owners and operators look to:
- Improve comfort and building performance and reduce utility costs
- Find solutions for immediate, substantial reductions in operating costs and improvements in occupant comfort
- Complement long-term recommendations from energy audits with low-cost solutions that have an immediate effect
With one point of contact for all recommissioning activities and upgrades, owners and operators know we take full responsibility for delivering a better-performing building. We provide a complete solution, tying together all necessary services.
Planning Study and Building Investigation
The process begins with a preliminary building walkthrough and staff interview by a senior commissioning agent to discuss existing documentation, benchmarking, comfort and performance concerns, and equipment problems. If appropriate, the agent will investigate opportunities for LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance certification, or other sustainability ratings. A focused investigation then identifies low-cost/no-cost opportunities to improve the performance of the existing equipment and systems most likely to produce useful results. WSP’s full recommissioning investigation can include items such as:
- Correction scheduling, setpoint, and sequence errors
- Operational testing of HVAC equipment and components
- Verification of equipment operation during unoccupied times
- Operational review of heating and cooling systems to optimize part load performance
- Review of BAS point and sequences for optimal control and efficiency
- Building envelope thermographic scan and air sealing review
Minor repairs should be made as soon as possible to maintain the momentum of the project and produce immediate results. The team will identify capital cost improvements for significant issues having either a reasonable payback, or for equipment at the end of service life. Turnkey pricing is provided for engineering, project management, construction, and commissioning services required to complete these recommendations. The analysis will allow the owner or operator to confirm that there is a fit with financial and budgeting models, and with capital improvement plans.
Implementation
Any low-cost/no-cost initiatives identified by the investigation should be undertaken immediately. WSP can provide full turnkey services, or work with your staff to project manage, implement, and commission the agreed-upon changes. This can include such items as re-writing sequences, end device remediation/replacement, and equipment repairs, tune-ups, and adjustments. WSP’s range of optional services includes the following:
- Full engineering
- Project management
- Equipment and systems supply and installation
- Commissioning services
- Reviews and co-ordination of all utility and government incentives
- Oversee contractor services for minor repairs
Sustainable Savings
Maintaining the benefits obtained through recommissioning requires documentation updates and staff training, as well as the development of processes to monitor savings and verify continued best practice operation. WSP’s recommissioning program offers these services. For documentation, we can update as-built drawings, sequences of operation, and O&M manuals. We also produce systems manuals, a single-source document for maintaining, operating, and recommissioning the building. As part of the recommissioning process, we engage maintenance staff in the testing, verification, and adjustment of equipment. Our recommissioning service can build in monitoring and verification tools through appropriately installed meters and performance verification protocols, providing on-going reviews and reports, generated to ensure the owner gets the information needed to sustain long-term savings.
