Lessons from Soft Landings

Roderic Bunn

Lessons from Soft Landings Roderic Bunn BSRIA Alasdair Donn Willmott Dixon

2 Making buildings better

3 Making buildings better

4 Making buildings better

• What motivated Soft Landings – a dip into the causes of performance gaps

• Where Government Soft Landings fits in

• Budgeting and tendering for Soft Landings

• An introduction to Soft Landings– its basic structure + introductory workshop

• Soft Landings the process: a chronological approach

• Stage 1 Inception and briefing

• Stage 2 Design and construction + reality-checking workshop

• Stage 3 Pre-handover

• Stage 4 Initial aftercare

• Stage 5 Long term aftercare and post-occupancy evaluations

What’s in the course Philosophy n (plural ‘philosophies’) 1. The study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience (‘the philosophy of science’) 2. A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour

5 Making buildings better

Soft Landings Challenges and opportunities

A small change in the way project teams do things

A big change in the way everyone thinks, behaves and interacts

•Practical completion becomes an extended handover process

•The project team does not disband at PC, but takes on aftercare duties

•Success is judged on operational outcomes, not the design specifications

•The whole project team – not just a few individuals – take custody of building performance

6 Making buildings better

• A more professional approach that says we have to change the way we do things if we’re going to deliver better buildings

• Intended to foster greater mutual understanding between clients, project managers, designers, builders and occupiers about project objectives

• Intended to reduce tensions and frustrations that occur during initial occupancy

• Aims to ensure clients and occupiers get the best out of their building

Involves greater investment in using performance feedback in briefing and design, more attention in construction management, problem diagnosis and treatment, and monitoring, and (systematic) post-occupancy evaluation

Soft Landings is not just a set of procedures … it’s more a way of thinking

7 Making buildings better

So what have we been learning so far?

8 The built environment experts

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know, we don't know.” Donald Rumsfeld Former United States Secretary of Defense

9 Making buildings better

“Old chestnuts” – known unknowns?*

Automatic lighting systems, sliding doors, window actuators, BMS, taps, legionella, manholes, boiler specs, labelling of switches, daylight linking, biomass boilers, specifying large panes of glass that cost lots of money to replace, posh carpet designs, ventilation systems, longer hours of use. But knowing these old chestnuts is not enough – what about the unknown unknowns?

*Courtesy Mike Chater – Hampshire County Council

10 Making buildings better

SOUTHBANK CENTRE: FESTIVAL WING

HESTON LEISURE CENTRE

Image: Studio E

The importance of end-user consultation

Flush out some unknown unknowns!

11 Making buildings better

The importance of operational performance risk registers

12 Making buildings better

Essex County Council aiming to ensure that the end user experience and building performance post handover matches the intended design criteria of the new facilities. The Smarte East Performance Indicators are driving improvement in handovers and defect clearance as well as: • End users being able to manage and operate their building more effectively • Reduction in wasted time and effort to resolve outstanding defects/issues • Reduced energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions • Improved environmental conditions • Improved customer satisfaction • Greater clarity on maintenance/service requirements

The importance of improving handover routines

13 Making buildings better

But we’ve got a long way to go…..

14 Making buildings better

Clients are spending money on metering that doesn’t work • Meters not fully commissioned, faulty meters not on snagging lists

• No calibration against loads – CT ratios often inappropriate, leading to multiplication of reported values, perhaps by x10 or x20

• No reconciliation against fiscal meters (meters in error are difficult to identify)

• Meters often miss-labelled on distribution boards

• PV export meters not recording properly

• Most heat meters show zero, or some other unbelievable values

• Miss-matched sub-meter to BMS clock-cycles

• BMS energy monitoring software may not be specified or installed

• Poor BMS graphics

15 Making buildings better

Grizzly bears are waking up early this year due to climate change

In one corner ‘Government Soft Landings’ and its outcome metrics …In the other corner Eric Pickles abolishing DECs… How does this make any sense?

It’s a strange world where Rumsfeld is right and Pickles is wrong…

16 Making buildings better

The client has to want it You have to want to do it

Everyone in a project team has to

THE SOFT LANDINGS SAFETY NET

ECOBUILD Soft Landings Case Studies

Alasdair Donn Willmott Dixon Energy Services

Soft Landings Framework - Stages 4/5 Measure/improve performance against expectations

Oakfield Primary School

Soft Landings Framework - Stages 2-4 Design & build for operability/maintainability/performance Measure performance against expectations

Keynsham Civic Centre/Offices PV 220 kWp system with 327 W high-yield panels Standing-seam roof, fixed arrays on 4 office roof zones Flat roof, ballasted inverters with sun/snow screens

Keynsham Civic Centre/Offices PV

30 kWp system with 327 W high-yield panels Flat roof, ballasted panel-mount system on 3 roof zones

PV Performance Monitoring

8% above cumulative target to date 20% above cumulative target from mid-November onwards Projected annual output ~200 MW/h Projected annual savings ~£45k

Thank for listening to Lessons from Soft Landings [email protected] [email protected]