Blog

December 4, 2014

Project Blog – U of T Rotman School of Management

In September 2009, the ground-breaking ceremony at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management was held and construction had started, but long before that CFMS had already started providing valuable commissioning for the Owner and design team. Throughout the design stage, three years of construction and one year after substantial completion, CFMS was involved with the project, implementing the commissioning and quality control process.

CFMS Consulting was hired early in the design stage of the project and continued their work through to the post construction phase, all while ensuring the requirements of LEED fundamental commissioning (EAp1) and enhanced commissioning (EAc3) were implemented and completed. During the design stage, CFMS conducted reviews of drawings and specifications to ensure Owner’s requirements were implemented, co-ordination between documents was complete and a project Basis of Design was compiled.

Throughout the construction phase, CFMS implemented monitoring and management of the quality control process; this included performing installation inspections of the mechanical systems to confirm accessibility, maintainability, and general good installation. Another portion of the quality control process involved witnessing various static tests on mechanical piping and ductwork as well as the start-up of various mechanical equipment and systems. Nearing the end of construction, the entire building automation system was functionally and performance tested to confirm communication between field devices and to verify sequence of operations controlling the mechanical equipment and systems were programmed and implemented as designed. After completion of testing, the Owners operation and maintenance team was trained on the mechanical and electrical systems and the building was handed over to the University of Toronto.

During first year of the warranty period the building was put through its operational paces. As any issues arose with the mechanical and electrical systems, the problems were investigated, any necessary changes were made and operation continued. The true performance of the systems were reviewed during the design degree days in both the winter and summer. The heating and cooling systems were reviewed to ensure they performed as designed, and the required heating and cooling loads of the building were being maintained by the installed systems.

CFMS was involved throughout the entire project providing expertise, knowledge and experience of the commissioning process to help ensure proper operation of the building and a smooth turnover to the Owner’s team. The results were shown with a building that operated and performed as designed, and further, the LEED gold certification which included points for both the fundamental commissioning (EAp1) and enhanced commissioning (EAc3). As a part of LEED certification, prerequisite EAp1 – Fundamental Commissioning is a requirement and certification without this valuable portion of LEED certification could not have been achieved. CFMS was proud to work with the entire team involved with the project.

Why Commissioning