August 19, 2008

Canadian Standards Association

Committee begins draft of Canadian building-commissioning standard

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

A committee that includes representation from building owners, government agencies and the design and contracting communities is gearing up to draft a long-awaited national standard on building commissioning.

Chair Bill Carson, commissioning co-coordinator at The Mitchell Partnership in Toronto, said work is expected to begin in earnest this fall.

He hopes the “consensus” standard will be published within the next 18 months.

“To me, that is a realistic goal,” said Carson, who has been involved in the commissioning field for more than 20 years and believes development of a uniform, standard process would pay dividends for building owners and the industry alike.

The document, known as Z320, is being developed under the aegis of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) by a technical committee that has representation from 14 public and private sector organizations.

The intent is to provide “a comprehensive, integrated, consistent and managed process or framework for achieving, validating and documenting that the performance of a completed building and its major systems meet the design intent and operational requirements of the owner,” the CSA said.

Major building systems include heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, electrical, gas, boiler and pressure vessels, elevators and fire safety.

Currently, commissioning is carried out through a variety of processes.

Carson, who formerly chaired a CSA committee that drafted a standard for commissioning of healthcare facilities, said the Z320 committee is looking for input from across the country.

“We want this to be a truly national standard,” he said.

The committee held its initial kick-off meeting in late June. The next meeting is expected to be held this fall.

“That will be a critical meeting,” Carson said. “We’ll start to get to the real meat and potatoes.”

While $125,000 has been raised to underwrite the initial stage of the process, the standard development component, funding is not yet in place for the second phase, an electronic version of the document.

“We’re in talks, but nothing has been committed,” said Vanessa Mitchell, a project manager at CSA’s offices in Mississauga.

The committee has representation from the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada (MCAC), which spearheaded the fundraising campaign, and the Canadian Construction Association (CCA), among others.

At its June meeting, the CCA board approved a motion from the general contractors council to nominate a candidate to sit on the committee. James Zippel, a vice-president of EllisDon, subsequently was appointed.

“It’s essential that we have representation on that committee,” said Newfoundland contractor Brad Greene, president of Project Management Services Inc. and immediate past chair of the general contractors council.

The first phase of the standard development process is being funded in part by MCAC and its provincial affiliates, CCA, and two federal agencies, Defense Construction Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada.

CSA standards are developed using a consensus-based process. The technical content is developed by volunteer expects, representing various interest groups.

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