What is Commissioning?

This month at Horizon Engineering Associates, LLP, we're talking about...
 
Have you ever constructed a building and it did not turn out exactly like you had hoped? Construction in today's world moves at light speed and to have a construction team that is an expert in all of the building's systems is difficult. Commissioning is the solution to help mitigate some of these (and other) problems. The commissioning process helps to ensure the finished building is operating as it was intended on opening day.
Building commissioning for new construction is a systematic process that documents systems are designed, installed and operate in accordance with the owners project requirements.
 
 
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National Garden Week: Produce Galore!

By: Lucy Finnegan

Lucy's backyard garden. She is growing some butter crunch lettuce, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, melons and carrots. This is so inspiring, thank you for sharing Lucy!

 

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National Garden Week: A Cuddly Visitor

By: Matthew Wheeler

Click to find out who came to visit Matt's garden!

My hummingbird feeder and trash cans were destroyed Wednesday night, so I set out my game camera last night in my back yard facing where my hummingbird feeder was. Keep in mind the top of the white fence is 4 feet off the ground. He also was not a fan of my kid’s toy box or basketballs either.

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National Garden Week: Clean-Up Time!

By: Bill Kirker, Regional Director

The Kirker family took advantage of the warmer temperatures and was out cleaning up the back yard this weekend. My son and oldest daughter in the first photo. My youngest daughter, wife and mother in law in the other. Great job!

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National Garden Week: Featuring Beekeeping!

By: Phil McCrory

My grandson is getting into beekeeping, so here are some pictures of this in our garden. We ordered a crate of bees from California. If you look close at the first picture of the white crate you can see thousands of legs of bees sticking thru the slots trying to escape. Do you know the feeling of taking off the lid to this crate and watching 1000s of bees take off; their first chance of freedom after being in a truck for three days. But in just a few moments the bees found their new home and settled in. It was fascinating to sit there and watch how they got all organized. We never got stung.

Now the bees are out and about the neighbor gathering their pollen. Sadly, the neighbors are opposed to bees and raising bees. When they see bees in their yard they think they are dangerous and start spraying them. And the neighbors don’t hesitate to tell us they will continue to use pesticides in their yard, which may kill off the bees. I can’t figure out why people want to poison our earth just to have pretty grass.

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Project Spotlight: William Paterson University, College Hall HVAC

William Paterson University contracted Horizon Engineering Associates, LLP (HEA) to provide commissioning services for the College Hall HVAC Project. Services included commissioning of mechanical, control systems and balancing verification. The goal of the commissioning process was to ensure that William Paterson University received a building that operated and performed per the engineer’s and architect’s intended design as well as to provide the owner’s staff with the training and documents needed for continual maintenance and operation of the building well into the future. All deficient items identified during the commissioning process were documented and as a result, over 15 deficiencies were identified.

Client: William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPU)  

Location: Wayne, NJ

Q/A with Chris Fischer, Project Engineer

When first contracted for this project, what did the client express as the main goal/most pressing need for our services to accomplish?

William Paterson University’s Capital Planning team expressed concerns over the project being completed prior to the contractor walking away. Additionally, the operation of the building had not been working as required for years, and the importance of the offices being more comfortable was often expressed.

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Employee Spotlight: Kieran Tracy

Meet Kieran Tracy! He is a Field Engineer working in our NYC office and was recently selected as an Employee of the Month! Here's a quick Q/A with him: Who would you like to swap places with for a day? My 6 month old nephew. He has a... Read More