ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT THESIS
Jennifer Drilling 10/29/2002 Advisor: Riley
TOYOTA
Real Estate & Facilities Corporate Headquarters
Torrance, CA
DESIGN COORDINATION
Introduction:
Coordination and planning are essential to mandate well over the entire duration of the project but most significantly impact the project early on. This means that ideally, all planning and coordination should start and finish within the Architectural and Engineering Firm during the design phase before construction begins. This is never usually the case, as most designs are pushed into the construction phase rather quickly. Therefore, all placement of building systems (such as Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection) need to be coordinated in the field. If this is not managed properly, problems will definitely occur during the installation of the various systems and can cause astronomical cost and schedule impacts if not caught before this time. Early design coordination between all the subcontractors is essential and should start with weekly meetings on the placement and size of each system. Most importantly, MEP Coordination needs to start early enough to give sufficient time to coordinate underground MEP work, especially coordination for penetrations through foundation walls and systems. The second most significant spaces are the plenums on each floor, which do not only contain MEP systems, but structural elements and fire proofing systems as well.
Coordination Required by Contract:
Specification 15050 (Basic Materials and Methods)
1.11 Coordination Documents
A. The Contractors shall prepare coordinated Shop Drawings to coordinate the installation and location of all HVAC equipment, ductwork, grilles, diffusers, piping, fire sprinklers, lights, audio/video systems, electrical services and all system appurtenances. The Drawings shall include all mechanical rooms and floor plans. The Drawings shall be Overlay Drawings showing each discipline on a single sheet. The Drawings shall be keyed to the structural column identification system, and shall be progressively proposed installation with the Architect and the structural requirements. When conflicts are identified, modify system layout as necessary to resolve. Do not fabricate, order or install any equipment or materials until coordination documents are approved by the General Contractor, Architect, and Owner. Within thirty days after award of adequate time for review and approval by parties mentioned above. Drawings should be prepared and submitted for approval on a floor-by-floor basis to phase with building construction.
B. The Drawings shall be prepared as follows:
1. The Sheet Metal Contractor shall prpare Drawings to an accurate scale of ¼” = 1’or Auto CAD-14 or 2000….Drawings are to be same size as Contract Drawings and shall indicate location, size and elevation above finished floor, of all HVAC equipment, ductwork, and piping. Plans shall also indicate proposed ceiling grid and lighting layout, as shown on electrical plans and reflected ceiling plans.
2. The Plumbing Contractor shall obtain the Auto CAD disks from the Mechanical Sub and indicate all plumbing lines including fittings, hangers, access panels, valves, and bottom of pipe elevations above finished floor.
3. The Fire Protection Contractor shall obtain a disk with the detailed mechanical and plumbing work shown. The Sprinkler contractor shall indicate location o all sprinkler heads and piping, including valves and fittings, dimensions from column lines, and bottom of pipe elevations about finished floor.
4. Piping that must be graded shall have right-of-way over more flexible items.
5. Plans are to incorporate all addenda items and change orders.
6. Distribute plans to all trades and provide additional coordination as needed.
C. Indicate value tag number on plans
D. Provide means of access to all valves, dampers, controllers, operable devices, etc.
E. Verify in field exact size, location, invert, and clearances regarding all existing material, equipment and apparatus, and advise the Architect of any discrepancies between those indicated on the Drawings
F. Final Coordination Drawings with all appropriate information added are to be submitted as Record Drawings.
Scope of Toyota MEP Coordination:
Two Turner staff members, Matt Baroni (MEP Superintendent) and Joe Bakke (MEP Engineer), were heavily involved in MEP Coordination involvement. They led weekly meetings every Tuesday, setting forth action or work items to complete and deadlines to meet for specific Subs. Each meeting consisted of one representative from each Mechanical, Electrical, Fire Protection, and Plumbing Subcontractor companies. Occasionally a structural sub would be represented for coordination with structural field issues. A Turner structural and site superintendent might be present as well. An Architect representative would always attend meetings to help sort out drawing conflicts or architectural issues.
For the most part, all drawings were 2 Dimensional and overlaid in AutoCAD. 3D work by the Mechanical Sub was completed for challenging areas such as the Central Plants and Kitchen. These spaces contain the single greatest concentrated areas of mechanical and electrical systems. The 5 buildings have all of the main equipment and piping stemming from the two Central Plants.
The Coordination Process followed the contract schedule as previously stated above (Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire Protection, and then Electrical). When problems did occur in certain areas, getting the job coordinated through the most efficient, least costly, and least time impacted way, became the most important goal for the MEP Systems. Sometimes one may need to diverge from a specific and rigid schedule because in the construction world, lost time is money!
A Construction Plan was reached towards the end of the MEP Coordination period. The priority for the job was the primary loops of Chilled and Hot water piping. There were foreseeable problems with the piping in the kitchen area, so the sprinkler subcontractor took the chance at getting as much installed as he could. This was risky due to the fact that the sprinkler lines could possibly obstruct the large duct work or piping and thus cause a relocation of that area. This would add costs to the project. When conflicts arose, sprinkler lines were planned to move first, then ductwork, and electrical. Drainage piping usually couldn’t be moved because of the required slopes needed for flowing purposes.
The installation process did not follow the traditional schedule as followed in the contract documents. During installation, it is important to note the systems tightest to the ceiling were placed first, so as to give an ease to construction. The sprinkler contractor installed one day previous to the Duct installer. Then plumbing followed, hoping to have the planned space to meet the required slope. Electrical followed and seemed to fill in wherever they could.
There were a few places where field conflicts arose with structural and MEP Systems that were not caught in the coordination meetings. There were height problems with concrete precast panel openings that conflicted with the required height of piping. Piping had to be adjusted accordingly to work. There was also a situation with the Core & Shell mechanical system established in the original design. TI (Tenant Improvements), a package that came out later, caused architectural problems with the recessed soffit in the kitchen. The two packages didn’t match. The pipes were installed too low and nothing really could have been done to have prevented it in coordination meetings. It was more of a LPA/Glumac (Architecture and Mechanical Engineering) miss on their coordination of drawings.
Commissioning:
A. Introduction:
The goal of commissioning is to provide the building with systems that are interactively functional with respect to one another. Commissioning should verify that systems function properly while also documenting system performance parameters. In order to do this, a variety of inspections and tests are performed to make sure that equipment is in compliance with its requirements and standard operation. The systems tested should achieve the design intended and meet the owner’s operational needs in accordance with the specifications.
The Toyota building has exceptionally high standards for its Commissioning in order to comply with LEED certification requirements.
· First, basic procedures of commissioning will be covered
· Second, LEED commissioning procedures will be cover
B. Commissioned Systems for the Toyota Project:
HVAC System:
· Air Handling Systems
· Water Chilling Systems
· Zone Terminal Units
· Space Heating Water Systems
· Digital Control System
Electrical System:
· Lighting Control System
· Daylight Control System
· Time/Photocell Switch System
C. Basic Commissioning (Inspections, Tests, Certificates, and Warrantees):
The Commissioning Process:
1. The Commissioning Plan:
o The commissioning plan provides guidance in the execution of the commissioning process. After the initial Commissioning Scope Meeting, the Commissioning Agent will update the plan. This is then considered the “Final Plan” even though it will continue to evolve and expand as the project progresses
2. Scoping (Pre-Commissioning) Meetings
o The Commissioning process is reviewed with the commissioning team members. This meeting is usually every couple of weeks and also discusses testing/ balancing issues and addresses contractor concerns. During actually testing, the meetings are usually weekly. Communication during these meetings is essential for documentation to be provided to the owner. This includes mail, e-mail, phone or face-to face conversations.
3. Submittal Review
o The Commissioning Agent (CA) will review all mechanical and electrical submittals that pertain to the systems to be commissioned. This will give the CA information for the Start-up Procedures, Pre-Functional and Functional Performance Tests.
4. Site Investigation
o The CA makes periodical visits during the construction phase. The CA’s inspection will concentrate on equipment accessibility, control sensor locations, ability to be properly balanced and ability to be commissioned.
5. System Start-up
o It is each contractor’s responsibility to start-up the equipment in their portion of the specifications. The appropriate subcontractor will fill out their respective Pre-Functional test checklists and submit them to the CA.
6. Point-To-Point
o The controls contractor performs all point-to-point testing of all control components.
7. Test and Balancing
o The Testing and Balancing contractor will start balancing those systems that have been completed. It is useful for the CA to have this information while performing the Functional Tests.
8. Functional Performance Testing
o This cannot begin until all contractors have completed all portions of their work and the system is fully operational. This includes testing, start-up, controls, and testing/balancing.
9. Commissioning Reporting and Deficiency Tracking
o Throughout the commissioning process, all items requiring attention will be documented and its resolution will be tracked.
10. Training
o Each contractor is responsible for training of equipment and systems in their respective sections. A training plan will be submitted to the CA for review. The plan will include the design intent of the system, review of controls, interaction with other systems, optimizing methods for conservation of energy, use of the O&M Manuals, health and safety issues, special maintenance and replacement sources, and tenant interaction issues.
11. O&M Documentation
o Each contractor is responsible for submitting operation and maintenance information for each piece of equipment or system. Each O&M shall include: instructions for installation, maintenance, replacement, start-up, parts list, performance data, and warranty information.
12. The Commissioning Final Report
o The commissioning report includes all meeting minutes, documentation, records, checklists, logs, and reviews of the entire process. This is completed before Substantial Project Completion
13. Warranty Phase
o The CA will return during the warranty period to review with the O&M staff the current building operation including original and seasonal testing.
D. LEED Comissioning (Rating System, Version 2.0):
1. Energy & Atmosphere- Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning
· Intent
o To verify and ensure that fundamental building elements and systems are designed, installed and calibrated to operate as intended.
· Requirement
o Implement the following fundamental best practice commissioning procedures:
§ Engage a commissioning authority
§ Review design intent and basis of design documentation
§ Include commissioning requirements in the construction documents
§ Develop and utilize a commissioning plan
§ Verify installation, functional performance, training and documentation
§ Complete a commissioning report
2. Energy & Atmosphere- Additional Commissioning
· Intent
o To verify and ensure that the entire building is designed, constructed, and calibrated to operate as intended
· Requirement
o In addition to the Fundamental Building Commissioning prerequisite, implement the following additional commissioning tasks:
§ Conduct a focused review of the design prior to the construction documents phase
§ Conduct a focused review of the Construction Documents when close to completion
§ Conduct a selective review of contractor submittals of commissioned equipment. (Te above three reviews must be performed by a firm other than the designer.)
§ Develop a recommissioning management manual
§ Have a contract in place for a near-warranty end or post occupancy review.
3.. Indoor Environmental Quality- Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan
· Intent
o To prevent indoor air quality problems resulting from the construction/renovation process to sustain long-term installer and occupant health and comfort
· Requirement
o Develop and implement an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Management Plan for the construction preoccupancy phases of the building as follows:
§ During construction meet or exceed the minimum requirements of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning National Contractors Association IAQ Guide for Occupied Buildings under Construction, 1995, AND protect stored on-site or installed absorptive materials from moisture damage, AND replace all filtration media immediately prior to occupancy. Filtration media shall have a Min. Efficiency Reporting Value of 13 as determined by ASHRAE 52.2-1999
§ Conduct a min. two-week building flush-out with new filtration media at 100% outside air after construction ends and prior to occupancy, OR conduct a baseline indoor air quality testing procedure consistent with current EPA Protocol for Environmental Requirements, Baseline IAQ and Materials, for the Research Triangle Park Campus, Section 01445.
(This commissioning requirement protects the HVAC system during construction, controls pollutant sources, and interrupts pathways for contamination. It also provides sequencing of installation of materials to avoid contamination of absorptive materials such as insulation, carpeting, ceiling tile, and gypsum wallboard. )
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