In fact, the idea of building commissioning as an add-on to an already stressed project budget is far from a slam dunk. Especially if facility owners feel comfortable with the consultants they've used or assume that major issues are covered by routine code compliance inspections, commissioning can appear to be an expensive luxury.
Increasing numbers of healthcare projects are putting that to the lie, though, according to two experienced commissioning experts. “I'd say the overall increase in building commissioning over the past few years has been huge, with university and school construction leading the way but healthcare ranking a close third,” says John D. Villani, PE, CEM, LEED AP, QCP, associate, Grumman/Butkus Associates, Evanston, Illinois.
“We are gaining healthcare clients at a rapid pace,” agrees John W. Zabilowicz, PE, LEED AP, principal with Z&F Consulting, Wayne, Pennsylvania.
For both engineers, it's a matter of healthcare project sponsors wanting to ensure that today's complex air handling mechanicals and controls work well and with complete energy efficiency in a highly demanding setting. “Today's systems are so much more complex,” Zabilowicz says. “Boilers, chillers, dehumidification equipment, the need to ensure infection control-the controls involved with this and the fact that the hospital has a ‘captive’ population mandate this kind of attention.”
