Commissioning Best Practices to Follow during the Turnover Phase

 

The turnover phase of any construction project is a well-ordered shift of building operations to the operation and maintenance (O&M) team from the project commissioning management services team. This transition is physical, signifies completion of commissioning-specific activities and involves knowledge transfer in the form of documentation. A successful transition is said to occur when the commissioning-specific documentation is complete, fully organised, building systems are operable as per the design and O&M personnel are trained appropriately to operate the systems.

 

Up to Date As-Built Documentation

Construction projects are largely directed by design documents that elucidate and describe countless working elements that require to be put together for a successful turnover. In construction, design documents are often revised several times due to unanticipated problems and site conditions. Contractors, who install equipment, red-line the drawings in the field to detail particular equipment installation, physical sites and other related updates.

The global commissioning management authority requires to be updated about the modifications as they impact commissioned equipment and gets updated documentation from the project team. The commissioning authority is not accountable for updating design-specific documents, but they are responsible to ensure that red-lined updates are reflected well in as-built drawings given to the owner – particularly, mechanical as well as controls as-builts.

As-builts provide the O&M personnel with comprehensive information, using which they fix system problems, locate equipment, trend the performance of equipment and transfer knowledge to new personnel as and when needed.

 

Well-Structured Commissioning Documentation

Similar to design documents, commissioning documentation should showcase the real conditions of the commissioned systems. At the least, the commissioning final report should consist of the Commissioning Plan and Performance Verification Criteria, Pre-Functional (PFC) and FPT notes, the Commissioning Issues Log and a letter of acceptance, along with supporting documents like Testing Adjusting and Balancing report, site visit reports, etc.

The FPT and PFC notes are crucial resources that could aid present and future building operators in developing a systems manual (if not provided in the turnover phase) and help them with re-commissioning, three to five 5 years post turnover.

 

Providing a Systems Manual

As part of the turnover package, the systems manual is not needed, unless the project seeks LEED Enhanced. Having said that, it’s another important resource that may ensure a successful turnover. While both commissioning documentation and as-builts contain overlapping resources and information, the systems manual is an extensive guide that describes control sequences, commissioned systems as well as best practices to maintain the equipment.

Moreover, a systems manual should ideally include riser diagrams, control sequence highlights and control drawings. It is basically a tool that can be utilised by O&M personnel for troubleshooting, operating, and maintaining and monitoring building performance.

 

Developing a Re-Commissioning Plan

Unless a project seeks LEED Enhanced Commissioning, the plan to maintain operational performance is generally overlooked as a deliverable in the turnover phase. Similar to documents mentioned above, a comprehensive plan is required for maintaining optimum operational performance and executing re-commissioning every 3 to 5 years.   

The plan should let O&M personnel understand project goals, the re-commissioning process and the desired outcomes of re-commissioning in a quick and easy manner. In general, the re-commissioning plan should detail the following:

     · Overview of the ongoing commissioning process

     · Responsibilities and roles of the commissioning team

     · Schedule of re-commissioning

     · List of the systems involved

     · In-depth instructions for the replication of FPTs, implemented by the commissioning authority in the Acceptance phase.

     ·  Re-commissioning documents to monitor outcomes

     ·  Instructions and recommendations to set and track facility performance benchmarks

In order to take re-commissioning a step ahead, O&M personnel could make the most of the Building Automation System (BAS) by creating a bespoke building performance monitoring program to inform the owner as well as the CFO about the building costs in a better way.

The BAS can be utilised to track and trend the metrics below:

     ·       Use of energy, which can further be benchmarked as Energy Use Intensity by making use of free management tools like Energy Star Portfolio Manager

      ·       Quality parameters for indoor air

      ·       Key system parameters like humidity, temperature, or static pressure set points

      ·       Automated detection of faults

 

Conducting a Lessons Learnt Session

The final phase of every successful project is a lessons learnt session, which involves the O&M personnel, the building owner and some key members of the project team. This meeting can be used to enhance the owner’s understanding of the importance of commissioning along with the things that worked or that didn’t work during the commissioning phase. A professional cannot expect him/herself to excel without reviewing their past performance.

The best practices discussed above can help O&M personnel and the owner to stay fully informed about building systems, have the required documents to maintain and operate the building, and understand of the lessons learnt in the commissioning phase.