Chris Matt

Design-Maintenance Discussion Hits Home

Chris Matt — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:21:00 GMT

After moderating a panel discussion this morning at the National Facilities Management & Technology conference in Baltimore, an attendee approached me and felt compelled to offer feedback immediately after the session concluded.

His tone was one of both excitement and relief, because the points the panelists made throughout the 50-minute discussion echoed many of the same things this particular manager has been championing in his organization.

The panel, which featured grounds managers at higher education facilities, as well as a landscape consultant, discussed strategies for designing and maintaining sustainable landscapes. The part of the session that really hit home for the satisfied attendee focused on the role managers must play in the design phase of landscape projects. The panelists talked about how critical it is to involve managers in the design process to ensure the landscapes are maintainable one, five and ten years down the road.

One panelist joked his organization has a policy of digging up anything that’s been planted for more than ten years. While he was being facetious – at least I think he was – he used a specific example to illustrate his point.

He talked about a situation in which design specifications could call for planting a row of 20 trees in an area above underground utilities. Well, if grounds managers are involved in that design, they would not suggest planting trees in this case because having to replace those trees in the future or remove them to repair the underground utilities would pose unnecessary challenges for a grounds crew.

These types of examples are those that hit home most with the attendee who approached me after the session. He told me afterwards that he’s been trying to make that point – involving those responsible for maintaining landscapes during the design phase – to his colleagues repeatedly.

He shared a story about a project during which he had little involvement. Now, he and his crew are having a difficult time maintaining various aspects of the landscaped areas and surrounding hardscapes.

After speaking with me, the attendee approached the panelists and told them he could not agree more with the points they made. It seemed as though he was relieved to discover the challenges he’s facing are not unique to him and his organization.

What Does Scott Brown's Victory Mean for Environmental Legislation?

Chris Matt — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:24:00 GMT

Much of the discussion surrounding Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts Senate race two weeks ago centered on the election’s impact on the proposed health care bill. Brown’s win means Democrats no longer have the 60 votes required to overcome a possible filibuster.

But the ripple effects go beyond health care, says Greg Burns, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. In a recent column, Burns says Brown’s victory will force proponents of a cap-and-trade program to settle for less ambitious sustainability goals, such as a green jobs initiative and smaller energy-efficiency improvements.

While many commercial and institutional facilities continue to implement sustainability initiatives, cap and trade definitely has been on the backburner in terms of national headlines. With talk of stimulating job growth and the overall economy still dominating the news today, it is hard to imagine cap and trade becoming a white-hot topic again any time soon.

To frame his column, Burns talks to the chief executive of Exelon Corp., the nation’s largest nuclear power utility. Because nuclear power plants emit little carbon, Exelon would benefit from a cap-and-trade program. But the CEO seems resigned to the fact cap and trade is not going to happen any time soon.

Despite a lack of a cap-and-trade program, organizations remain focused on the impact their facilities can have on the environment. Whether or not managers want cap and trade, the reductions in energy use and utility costs from green projects are difficult to ignore. And regardless of what happens with cap and trade, environmental initiatives will continue to be a part of managers’ decision making when assessing overall building operations.

Do You Use Sustainability Guides?

Chris Matt — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:20:00 GMT

Wouldn't it be nice if managers had one guide they could use to navigate the challenging journey of operating and maintaining sustainable facilities?

While one guide never could be all-encompassing, managers do have plenty of resources at their disposal. In the last month or two, a handful of e-mails have arrived in my inbox touting some new how-to guides designed to help managers lessen their buildings' impact on the environment.

Managers in health care facilities are well aware of the Green Guide for Health Care, but organizations such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) are collaborating to develop resources that help guide managers through the sustainability process.

For example, ASHRAE and a handful of organizations, including USGBC, the American Institute of Architects, and the U.S. Department of Energy, recently released the newest version of the Advanced Energy Design Guide.

The guide offers a range of tips to improve building energy efficiency, including: installing high-efficiency condensing boilers with an outdoor-air-temperature reset schedule for all climate zones; maximizing the use of daylighting and daylighting-responsive controls; and carefully laying out lighting design to meet recommended lighting power density by space type.

Going beyond health care facilities, Facility Engineering Associates has partnered with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) to release the Sustainability "How-To" Guide Series. They developed the first guide in the series, Getting Started, to assist managers with a step-by-step process for: assessing an organization's sustainability; finding a starting point; identifying initiatives; evaluating their value; and implementing, measuring, and monitoring their effectiveness.

I'm curious how many managers use any of these types of guides as a reference before taking on retrofit or renovation projects or implementing sustainability initiatives. While a great deal of information exists to help managers make their facilities more environmentally responsible, guides compiled by credible organizations such as those I've mentioned above seem to be a logical resource managers would use in their green building efforts.

New Data Center Might House the "Future of Computing"

Chris Matt — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:20:00 GMT

Read an interesting article in today's Chicago Tribune profiling Microsoft Corp.'s $500 million, 707,000-square-foot data center in suburban Chicago.

The article touts the rather nondescript facility - at least from the outside - as a one-stop shop for the digital needs of government agencies, companies and millions of individuals. Building engineers are working on ways to make the powerful facility more energy efficient, including specifying hardware that tolerates a wide temperature range, chillers that bring in outside air when it is cold, and servers containing no individual fans.

Electronic monitoring also allows individual customers to track and report carbon emissions related to their computing.

The article talks about how the so-called cloud computing could significantly cut information technology costs, making corporate IT departments obsolete. Concerns about security and reliability remain, but this is an interesting take on the possible future of data centers.

How Do You Justify Investing in Sustainable Technologies?

Chris Matt — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:00:00 GMT

That is a question managers feeling pressure to make their facilities and operations more sustainable ask themselves every day.

Tried-and-true tools to measure the impact of sustainable technologies on an organization's bottom line are hard to find. Apparently, progress is being made. I came across an interesting article (see attached file below) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Building and Fire Research Laboratory that discusses the laboratory's efforts in developing metrics and tools for assessing the environmental and economic performance of buildings over their life cycle.

From what I read, the article seemed pretty intriguing. I hope you'll give it a read.

Chris

Sears Tower Getting a Green Facelift

Chris Matt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:05:00 GMT

Changes taking place at the Sears Tower go beyond a name change, though "Willis Tower" will become the Chicago landmark's official name in July.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the owners of the tower unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce electricity use by up to 80 percent as part of a $350 million effort to make the 110-story building more environmentally responsible. The tower's green efforts will include installing renewable energy sources - solar panels and possibly wind turbines - to power a luxury hotel the owners want to build adjacent to the downtown skyscraper. Other initiatives, including window glazing and mechanical and lighting system retrofits, are fueling the tower's efforts to become more energy efficient.

While the West Coast is known for taking the lead on many green initiatives, Chicago is not far behind. Vegetative roofs have become a key cog in the city's green efforts, and other landmark facilities, such as The Merchandise Mart, recently have achieved LEED for Existing Buildings Certification. The fact The Merchandise Mart, the world's largest commercial building, achieved LEED certification is proof that managers in facilities of all shapes and sizes can commit to green initiatives and accomplish their goals.

Seeing what's taking place at the Sears Tower hammers that point home.

Historic Buildings: Energy Efficient or Energy Hogs?

Chris Matt — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:32:00 GMT

The U.S. Capitol Complex features buildings between 25 and 215 years old. The Architect of the Capitol – the group responsible for the maintenance and operations of the Capitol Complex – not only must maintain the integrity of the historic buildings in its portfolio. It also must ensure those venerable facilities perform as efficiently as possible.

On the surface, it seems logical that the newer facilities featuring advanced technologies would be more energy efficient than the older buildings. But that is not necessarily the case.

“The Russell building, which is 100 years old … has the best energy intensity of all the Senate buildings,” says Stephen Ayers, the Acting Architect of the Capitol. “So it’s interesting, and it’s probably because of the substantial construction material used. Some of the walls over there are 3- and 4-feet thick. That surprised us that the energy intensity there was much better than the much newer buildings in the Senate.”

I interviewed Mr. Ayers in September 2008, and we discussed the energy-efficiency initiatives taking place at the Capitol Complex. I was surprised at the energy efficiency of the historic buildings. Implementing modern technologies designed to make these historic buildings operate at peak efficiency seems like a tall task. But, as Ayers pointed out, historic buildings are not as inefficient as one would think.

Maintenance and engineering managers responsible for historic buildings always are conscious of maintaining the facilities’ integrity. But when they have to implement energy-saving initiatives inside historic structures, maintaining that integrity becomes an even bigger challenge.

Last week, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) sponsored a Congressional briefing on turning older structures into high-performing historic buildings.

“As the saying goes ‘the most sustainable building is one you never have to build,’” says Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs. “Historic buildings already have a significant amount of embodied resources in the bricks and mortar, so it only makes sense to maintain the historic nature of the structure while improving its energy efficiency.”

Apparently, the saying, “They just don’t build them like that anymore,” is applicable here. If you manage historic facilities, I’m curious how they’re performing. Please share your story. Also, feel free to read more about the Congressional briefing and the energy-efficiency efforts taking place at the U.S. Capitol Complex.

Managing Storm Water Surfaces in Green Discussions

Chris Matt — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:33:00 GMT

The Modesto Medical Center is the most environmentally responsible hospital in the Kaiser Permanente chain. Kaiser, based in Oakland, Calif., is a reputable organization that features more than 450 medical facilities, so being known as the company’s greenest hospital is making quite a statement.

The 670,000-square-foot complex, comprised of medical offices and a full-service hospital, serves as a green laboratory for future green building projects at Kaiser. The medical center features a range of green technologies, including occupancy sensors for lighting, an energy-efficient HVAC system, variable-frequency drives, and water-saving plumbing fixtures.

But the one green element that garnered the most attention during the construction of the medical center was pervious pavement. Water conservation continues to be a hot topic for maintenance and engineering managers in commercial and institutional facilities – especially those on the West coast – and managing runoff plays a key role in many water-saving initiatives.

A handful of strategies exist for managing storm water.

Installing pervious pavement in parking lots, for example, can eliminate the need to build an expensive sewer infrastructure. Those responsible for designing and building the Modesto facility were reluctant to specify the pervious pavement until they fully realized the amount of money they could save by not having to install pipes and drainage links.

Organizations are installing vegetative roofing systems to reclaim storm water used for irrigating rooftop vegetation and other landscaped areas. Some grounds departments also are planting more landscaped areas to reduce the amount of runoff generated by parking lots and other concrete spaces.

This topic came to mind after seeing a few news items related to storm-water management. Check out a couple articles, including one from The Washington Post and another from the Environment News Service. Also, feel free to read more on the Modesto Medical Center project and its pervious paving installation.

I would like to hear your strategies for managing storm water. Is this something you are concerned with at your organization?

Managers Going Old School to Save Money?

Chris Matt — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:07:00 GMT

Cost-saving strategies are a hot topic these days, for obvious reasons.

Through this Web site, we've been asking facility professionals to submit tips for saving their organizations money, and I received an interesting insight from a member the other day. After looking at some of the tips people have submitted, he said, "It's funny, all these money-saving ideas we started way back in the 80s, where has everyone been?"

I took a look at what already had been submitted, and he does have a point. Many, not all, of the suggestions seem to be tried-and-true methods facilities have been implementing for years. It appears people might be going back to basics rather than reinventing the wheel. With a renewed focus on saving energy and, by doing so, improving the bottom line, are managers revisiting cost-saving practices they never truly considered before the recession hit?

For example, one suggestion talks about turning off computers when not in use. Another suggests shutting down hotel guest-room refrigerators in non-resort properties. Both are great suggestions, but I would bet some managers never really looked into the potential savings of these practices until the economic situation grew so dire.

Managing buildings with a shrinking budget does call for creativity every day on the job. So I wonder, if the economy does get worse, to what lengths will people go to develop new ideas for saving money. The existing methods can only take you so far, right?

The Grounds-Facilities Connection

Chris Matt — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:55:00 GMT

What is the first thing you see when you drive alongside a major college or university campus? How about walking up to a massive hospital complex?

Typically, the first thing that catches the eye of occupants and visitors is the organization's landscaped areas. With first impressions being extremely important, especially in the case of prospective students taking a campus tour, organizations are focusing on the efforts of grounds care departments. Buildings themselves undoubtedly need to appeal to occupants and visitors, but the buildings and the grounds go hand-in-hand.

Take a major building renovation or new construction project as an example. While architects, designers, contractors and facility managers are focusing on the building itself, the grounds manager is getting involved, helping create a synergy between the building and the landscapes that will surround it.

This thought came to mind as I moderated a grounds management panel discussion at NFMT 2009. The panel consisted of the manager of grounds from Johns Hopkins University and the Assistant Director of Grounds, Vehicle Maintenance and Support Services with American University in Washington, D.C. Most attendees at NFMT are facility managers, not grounds managers.

Nonetheless, the session was full of interested individuals learning about managing a grounds department with sustainability at the forefront of the decision-making process. I spoke with a few attendees after the discussion who did not hold the title of grounds manager, but they took away valuable information they'll share with grounds professionals in their organizations.

I'd be interested to hear about the relationship between facility professionals and grounds professionals in your organization.

The Heartbeat of the Maintenance Department?

Chris Matt — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:12:00 GMT

While attending a handful of educational sessions at NFMT 2009 in Baltimore, one comment stood out above the rest.

For those of you who don't know, NFMT (National Facilities Management & Technology) is a trade show for facility professionals in commercial and institutional buildings. I took in a presentation on computerized maintenance management systems, or CMMS. Many maintenance and engineering managers are familiar with CMMS and have specified the systems for their buildings. Before the presentation, an attendee called CMMS, "The Heartbeat of the Maintenance Department." Being an editor with a magazine that covers the maintenance management industry, I was intrigued by that type of declaration.

Once the session began, the presenter asked the audience to raise their hands if they had a CMMS in their facilities. Surprisingly, only about three hands went into the air. I thought that was interesting, especially because the presenter talked about the low-hanging fruit a CMMS can identify, leading to cost savings. Of course, with the current state of the economy, any monetary savings would be a welcome sight for institutional and commercial buildings. Maybe that's why the session was full of attendees who might not already have a CMMS but want to learn how to purchase and implement one.

The benefits of a CMMS include developing preventive and predictive maintenance schedules and tracking work orders. But I'm guessing the one major take-away for attendees was learning about the savings the system can generate. So, I'm curious: Do you have a CMMS in your organization, and do you consider it to be "The Heartbeat of the Maintenance Department?"

Reminder: Panel To Discuss Grounds Management, Sustainability and the Bottom Line

Chris Matt — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:41:00 GMT

For those of you interested in learning about evolving trends in commercial and institutional grounds care management, feel free to attend a panel discussion at the NFMT Conference and Expo in Baltimore. The session, Grounds Management, Sustainability and the Bottom Line, will take place Wednesday, March 11, at 10 a.m., inside the Baltimore Convention Center. Like all the educational sessions at NFMT, this panel discussion is free of charge. Click here to register.

I am moderating the discussion, so if there are any questions you would like me to ask our panelists, please e-mail me.

Panelists: Mark Selivan, Manager of Grounds with Johns Hopkins University; Mark Feist, Assistant Director of Grounds, Vehicle Maintenance and Support Services with American University.

Session description: Grounds managers in commercial and institutional facilities are under more pressure than ever. As fuel costs rise, budgets tighten, and concern for the environment grows, managers are expected to make their operations more sustainable. In response, managers are implementing a variety of strategies, including exploring alternative-fuel options and designing landscapes that require less irrigation. They also are specifying versatile equipment to make their operations more efficient and cost-effective. This panel discussion will provide attendees with real-world examples of sustainable grounds departments contributing to their organizations' bottom lines.

Vegetative Roofs: Interest Keeps Growing

Chris Matt — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:38:00 GMT

Are you nervous about specifying a vegetative roof? Does the thought of planting vegetation – and testing the waterproofing capabilities of your roof while irrigating those plants – make you cringe?

You are not alone. Many facility professionals are hesitant to jump on the green roofs bandwagon, but managers sooner or later might have to bury those reservations. Vegetative systems are becoming integral to an organization’s move toward environmental responsibility, and managers will have to tackle the learning curve related to specifying and maintaining those roofs.

Fortunately, maintenance and engineering managers will not be alone in trying to figure out the proper design, installation and maintenance procedures surrounding a vegetative system. Manufacturers, distributors, grounds care personnel and possibly even outside contractors will work together when organizations decide to go the green roof route.

If plant selection and horticultural knowledge is a manager’s biggest concern, pre-planted modular trays are a viable – yet more expensive – option. Certain systems, typically those with less growing media and more basic vegetation, also call for less maintenance than systems with trees and shrubs showcased on rooftops. That means less weeding, fertilizing and watering.

So, taking on a vegetative roof may not be as difficult as it might seem.

The key thing to remember goes back to the most important element of any new project in commercial and institutional facilities: Get everyone involved. Designers, architects, the manufacturer, grounds managers and maintenance and operations folks need to form a unified front in designing, installing and maintaining the system.

Without that collaboration, something that seems like a small detail – irrigating the system twice a week instead of once in hot, dry conditions, for example – can lead to failure and more negative feelings toward vegetative systems altogether.

Check out more on vegetative roofs in the March issue of Maintenance Solutions magazine.

Education Funding: Optimism Replaced by Uncertainty

Chris Matt — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:49:00 GMT

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the economic stimulus package last Wednesday, K-12 school districts and colleges and universities had reason to hope.

Almost one week later, that hope has been replaced by uncertainty. As part of the $819 billion measure the House passed on Jan. 28, more than $20 billion targeted the repair, renovation, modernization and construction of K-12 schools and higher education facilities. Then came the U.S. Senate version of the stimulus package.

A revised version of the Senate bill announced this past weekend contained no modernization funding. This is a stark contrast to an earlier Senate bill, which called for $14 billion for school modernization, $3.5 billion for higher education modernization and $1 billion for education technology. It’s hard to fathom how the Senate went from $18.5 billion to zero, but that’s the situation facing President Barack Obama and his economic team.

It was hard not to get excited a couple weeks back when school repairs and modernization became a focus of the economic stimulus package. I thought education funding could help ease the deferred maintenance backlogs and budget shortfalls I constantly hear about when I talk to managers in K-12 school districts and colleges and universities. Then, just like that, the rug gets pulled from under managers’ feet.

Before the final bill reaches President Obama’s desk, the House and Senate have to reconcile their differences. Obama talked about how he hopes the Senate reconsiders slashing all of the education dollars from its version of the bill. From someone who always hears about modernization and repair projects that never get off the ground or maintenance that must be deferred due to a lack of funds, I couldn’t agree more.

How would the education funding change the way you manage your facilities?

Panel To Discuss Grounds Management, Sustainability and the Bottom Line

Chris Matt — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:28:00 GMT

I am moderating the discussion, so if there are any questions you would like me to ask our panelists, please e-mail me.

Panelists: Mark Selivan, Manager of Grounds with Johns Hopkins University; Mark Feist, Assistant Director of Grounds, Vehicle Maintenance and Support Services with American University.