HVAC Retrofitting for Green Refurbishments in Occupied Buildings
White Paper
Mark Mitchell B.Eng (Hons), B.Sc, MBA
November, 2009
Major retrofits in occupied buildings to achieve energy efficiency outcomes may pose significant issues and challenges. The works are carried out behind the scenes or on a staged basis and it is exceptionally difficult to deliver the works without significant disruptions over an extended project duration.
The essential issue is that most building energy related systems, especially the HVAC are structured and controlled over multiple floors. This combined with usually inadequate system documentation and knowledge can and often does lead to very significant on-site issues. Additionally the major stakeholders: owner, tenants, builder or head contractor, property or facility manager and service providers will all buy into the ultimate objective however they have different and often conflicting agendas and expectations.
A different paradigm is required for these projects: one that is heavy on planning, project management, expert engineering support and most importantly, effective and proactive communication across all project stakeholders. We have done or are engaged in a number of major projects in this genre and share some of our experiences in this paper.
About the Author
Mark Mitchell B.Eng (Hons), B.Sc, MBA Mark has been the General Manager of A.G. Coombs Pty. Ltd., one of Australia’s leading specialist building services firms, since 2006. In this capacity he has overseen a period of rapid growth in projects across the data centre, health, sustainability and commercial sectors. Mark has been closely involved with the delivery of a number of successful full turnkey infrastructure refurbishment projects which have commenced at early concept advisory, through design development, installation and commissioning and transitioned onto ongoing technical operational support. Many of these have delivered significant green outcomes. Prior to his role at A.G.Coombs, Mark has held operations and project management positions within the building services and technology industry. Mark holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Science from Monash University, a Diploma of Project Management from the University of New England, and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.