New Building Commissioning (Cx)

is a rigorous quality assurance process with advantages that begin to enhance project delivery as early as conceptual design, and continues through various milestones including detailed design, construction, start-up testing and fine tuning, Owner training, occupancy, and usually through the first year of operation. Commissioning helps ensure and verifies that the new building and its systems are adequately designed, selected, installed, started-up, tested to operate and perform as design intended in accordance with the Owner’s project requirements, and that building staff are properly trained to operate and maintain the systems and equipment with sufficient documentation turned over to operate and maintain the commissioned systems in peak operating condition for years to come. Many commissioning guidelines also require a building systems manual be developed to provide a means to document and thoroughly understand the building operating systems and subsequent system requirements with directions to continue periodic re-commissioning or ongoing commissioning tasks

Existing Building Commissioning (EBCx)

essentially encompasses the terms Re- Commissioning (Re-Cx) and Retro-Commissioning (Retro-Cx). Ongoing Commissioning (O-Cx) is also completed within an existing facility, but is a continual process planned and set up during initial commissioning efforts. You can maintain optimum building performance by commissioning new buildings or retro-commissioning existing buildings and then using re or ongoing commissioning to ensure the persistence of benefits. Regardless of your building’s life cycle phase, it is never too late to start.

Re-Commissioning (Re-Cx)

is a re-optimization process for existing buildings or systems that have already been commissioned with associated documentation retained. The goal of Re-Cx is to ensure the original commissioning benefits persist, and that equipment and systems operate optimally and perform to meet current occupant and operational needs. The original investigative approach is re-assessed and applied to identify operational or performance issues with systems and equipment. The primary outcome of Re-Cx is identifying “low-cost/no-cost” operational improvements given the building’s continued usage in order to maintain comfort conditions with potential energy savings.

Retro-Commissioning (Retro-Cx)

is a commissioning process that applies to existing buildings or systems that were not previously commissioned, and is often completed after space reprogramming or building renovations as obsolete systems can wreak havoc on the building’s energy-using systems. This process seeks to understand, complete documentation and improve how building systems and equipment function together to meet current facility functional requirements and the building’s operating plans. Retro-commissioning processes can also identify and resolve problems that occurred during the initial building design or construction, and address problems that have developed during the building’s operational life cycle.

Ongoing Commissioning (O-Cx)

is a process similar to re-commissioning that maintains building performance on an ongoing periodic basis. Typically planned and set up through initial commissioning efforts, a building systems manual is prepared to provide guidance and to document results. Further review by building operators or specialty vendors may be required.

No matter the approach, DUNE Engineering will tailor a process to assess current operational conditions of energy-consuming systems and controls, identify potential energy-saving measures, pin point easily fixable issues that can be resolved quickly, and coordinate various measures with capital planning to improve overall energy usage by optimizing equipment performance and system integration. So, before proceeding with costly building retrofits, consider Existing Building Commissioning first. Typical “low- cost/no-cost” measures often include fixing control dampers, adjusting primary heating or cooling plant operations, aligning zone temperature set-points, and even eliminating simultaneous heating and cooling. Persistence strategies such as training, monitoring energy bills, energy management information systems and automatic diagnostics are also viable outcomes to maintain building performance.

Fire Protection and Life Safety Integrated Systems Testing 

The CAN/ULC-S1001 IST standard is a requirement in both the National Building Code and the National Fire Code for any new buildings prior to gaining occupancy. The National Building and Fire Codes of Canada have referenced CAN/ULC-S1001 since 2015 as the standard requirement to ensure all fire protection and life safety systems within the building(s) are tested as an integrated system and operate in conformance with the design criteria.

Integrated fire protection systems and life safety systems must be designed, installed and tested to their applicable standards. Unidentified systems deficiencies or failure to fully verify systems and their integration could result in the systems not performing in the way they were intended during a fire event for example. A failure could lead to inadequate water supply or fire suppression response, or fire and/or smoke not being controlled and spreading through the facility via egress paths or areas of refuge. Properly functioning and integrated fire protection systems and life safety systems should avoid delays in the notifications, evacuation and/or movement of persons to a safe location.

Simply put, where there are fire protection and life safety systems with functions that are integrated with each other, the systems shall be tested as a whole in accordance with CAN/ULC-S1001 – Integrated Systems Testing of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems to verify that the systems properly integrate with one another as the design intended.

As a requirement under new construction, an Integrated Systems Testing Coordinator shall be retained to develop a project specific plan and procedure that is unique to each facility, and include all applicable integrations of the Fire Alarm Systems various integrated inputs, outputs, notifications and call outs; Notification and Mass Notification Systems; Elevator(s) and Lifts; Emergency Generators; Audio/Visual Systems; Lighting Control Systems; Water Supplies, Control and Freeze Protection Systems; Fixed Fire Suppression Fire Pump(s), Sprinkler System(s), Standpipes & Hoses, Kitchen / Cooking or Electrical / Data Space Specific Equipment Fire Suppression Systems; Ventilation Systems (Air Handling Units, Pressurization Units, Smoke Controls), Security and Access Controls Systems, as well as various other life safety technologies such as those found in hospitals (Nurse Call, Duress, Lighting Pathways etc).  

For ongoing building operations or existing buildings, as required by CAN/ULC-S1001:2011 (R2017); the building Owner is responsible to arrange future testing which is to be conducted one year after completion of the initial Integrated Systems Testing, or date of Occupancy, and to continue periodic testing not to exceed five-year intervals after that. Also, where any modifications to the fire protection and life safety systems are made which affect system integrations; Integrated Systems Testing of the affected integrations shall be conducted, and would include reconciling any number of building upgrades, or even replacement or installing something as small as an egress path mag lock. Generally, for existing buildings, while still a requirement, industry is looking to educate building owners to begin collecting relevant building documentation that is often challenging, for preparation for Integrated Systems Testing in the future.