You wouldn’t drive your car for years without replacing spark plugs, filters, fluids and fan belts. Neither should you operate a complex building for years without a tune-up.
A building is a machine, and like all other machines, will deteriorate if not maintained adequately. As a building ages, equipment breaks down and is repaired, tenants request changes to heating, cooling and lighting, and facility managers tweak the systems. Over time, the building no longer operates at its optimal level of efficiency.
Retro-commissioning is the systematic process of ensuring that a building’s systems are optimised to meet its current operational needs.
Recent studies have found that buildings can exceed their predicted energy performance standards with retro-commissioning. Take Stockland’s 66 Waterloo Road in Sydney for example. While the building had good bones, it does not feature the chilled beams, ventilated façades or tri-generation systems often equated with superior energy efficiency. However, the building achieved its aspirational performance target of NABERS Energy 4.5 stars within 12 months of operation. With careful diagnosis, system recalibration and some behavioural change, the building then exceeded the 5 star NABERS benchmark.
Tools such as NABERS and the Green Star – Performance tool currently being developed by the Green Building Council of Australia encourage facility managers to seek out opportunities that come with retro-commissioning. Green Star – Performance, for instance, will measure and monitor the environmental impact of buildings across our nine existing categories and support building owners to take practical action to improve their buildings’ performance.
Retro-commissioning is generally the lowest cost opportunity to improve environmental performance, as it doesn’t require large capital expenditure, and can generally be carried out through a building’s maintenance budget. It also offers the highest immediate return on investment.
What’s more, in this new era of mandatory disclosure, retro-commissioning is a low-cost way of getting better levels of energy efficiency from a building – and a better energy efficiency rating.
