Energy efficiency is paramount in the healthcare sector due to its profound impact on both environmental sustainability and operational effectiveness. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are among the most energy-intensive buildings, consuming significant amounts of energy for heating, cooling, lighting, and medical equipment operation. For healthcare providers in older facilities, efficient energy consumption can be very challenging. That’s where building retro-commissioning comes in.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Grow up and become a productive member of society.” But what does this mean for buildings?
Just like people, buildings should mature into responsible members of society. The places where we work, live, and play must operate as good citizens, contributing positively to the community and the planet.
For the building’s owners, this mission is fulfilled when the building is efficient, comfortable, cost-conscious, and environmentally friendly. DMA Engineering helps ensure building systems are operating at peak performance.
In this article, we’ll highlight a case study showing the effectiveness of retro-commissioning for a healthcare system. DMA Engineering added our expertise to a project where commissioning was essential to protecting healthcare workers and patients.
Case Study: How DMA Engineering Helped Healthcare Trust of America with A Successful Building Retro-Commissioning
Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) hired DMA Engineering to conduct a building retro-commissioning project for upgrades to an older medical building. Today, HTA is known by the new name Healthcare Realty Trust after a merger. The group is one of the nation’s leading owner-operators of medical office buildings and properties.
The goal of this retro-commissioning project was to address challenges involving energy consumption, temperature control, and air quality. These are critically important issues in the healthcare industry, where buildings must maintain high levels of safety and stay within regulatory compliance.
DMA Engineering’s team brought extensive expertise to this project, including team members with backgrounds in mechanical system design, environmental engineering, energy efficiency, and much more. Our team was excited about the opportunity to use modern technology to align a healthcare facility with the concept of environmental sustainability.
What Is Building Retro-Commissioning?
Retro-commissioning is a structured process to identify and address building efficiency challenges. Even the best-constructed buildings lose efficiency over time.
As a building ages, its equipment malfunctions and maintenance issues start to flare up. The owner’s costs rise accordingly. Meanwhile, occupants experience ongoing frustrations and discomfort. The building simply isn’t living up to the challenges of a new era.
This is the point where a client like HTA contacts DMA Engineering about a building commissioning project. Retro-commissioning realigns a building’s systems with the standards required to achieve optimal performance.
In DMA Engineering’s building retro-commissioning process, a building’s owner will learn about what’s limiting the building’s efficiency, function, and lifespan. The process measures the building’s current system performance against the original design standards and then recommends upgrades or adjustments.
One of the main goals of the process is to show a building’s owner how the structure could become more sustainable and resilient. This is especially important for a company like HTA, which had a goal of operating a highly efficient building while ensuring decades of comfort and safety for the local healthcare community.
Project Challenges
Decades-old buildings lose energy efficiency over time and gradually bring higher energy bills and maintenance expenses. Inside, people experience drafty temperatures and notice that the ventilation doesn’t seem to circulate the air very well.
In this project, HTA officials explained that the building was already showing symptoms of struggling systems. The main challenges included:
- Massive energy consumption
- Dramatic temperature swings
- Subpar indoor air quality
After looking at these issues, DMA Engineering worked with HTA to identify the main systems and features involved. This moved the project toward the next phase, which is targeting the right systems to address existing challenges.
Target Systems to Address
Working with HTA officials, the DMA Engineering team determined that the following aspects of the building would be the highest priorities for this project:
- HVAC re-engineering to address piping, ducting, air systems, and building controls
- A set of HVAC as-built drawings
- New coil fans
Old, outdated HVAC systems can limit a building’s ability to maintain proper air movement and control over the temperature. New drawings from DMA Engineering can show the deficiencies by establishing the intended use when the building was constructed, hence the term, “as-built drawings.”
Newly installed coil fans would help move and condition the building’s air more efficiently, providing proper heating and cooling year-round. As a result, the healthcare workers and patients would always experience enjoyable air temperatures with fresh, healthy air quality.
A Successful Building Retro-Commissioning and More
When a building retro-commissioning project is successful, the changes are evident everywhere—from the building’s comfortable atmosphere to the owner’s energy bills. Our project for HTA resulted in the following positive outcomes.
- Reduced energy consumption by more than 50%.
- Increased occupant comfort by 40%.
- Added potential for tenant improvements through accurate drawings.
- Lowered building maintenance costs to deliver ongoing savings.
DMA Engineering’s principal engineer, Steven Forrester, was pleased with the results of the collaboration with HTA. He’s passionate about holding buildings accountable to the environment. This project brought a green point of view to the world of healthcare in a true retro-commissioning success story.
Could your building benefit from retro-commissioning? To learn more about the benefits of commissioning projects, connect with DMA Engineering.