You’re preserving more than your bottom line. It’s a common buzzword thrown around in the construction, design and energy industries. It’s a cohesive design process implemented in construction/design projects.
What is it?
Commissioning.
Building commissioning as defined by Laboratory Design is the process of verifying, in new construction, all building subsystems—MEP systems, building envelopes, cogeneration, sustainable systems and more—to achieve an owner’s project requirements as intended by the building owner and as designed by the building architects and engineers.
It is most important to integrate a clear commissioning plan early-on in the design stage of the project, making sure to pre-plan and document the project performance requirements.
Here’s a general list of typical requirements for any commissioning process (may depend on owner’s wants and needs):
- Progress checks
- Factory Witness Testing
- Acceptance Testing
- Testing Schedule
- Process Records
- Operation and Maintenance Training.
In the words of the Building Commissioning Association, the “commissioning provider should be the first one in, and the last one out.”
For data centers, commissioning can be tricky. Data centers must operate continuously. More often than not, data centers must be reliable and available at all times. This is what makes commissioning interesting for data centers.
For more information about commissioning check out these links:
Building Commissioning – Whole Building Design Guide
Energy Matters: Building Commissioning – Lab Design News
Commissioning Commercial Buildings – Consulting-Specifying Engineer
For more information on McKenney’s Commissioning visit our website or check out this pamphlet about our Energy Services.