ASHRAE Journal - February 2014 - 52

TECHNICAL FEATURE
FEA

Technical vs. Process Commissioning

Design Phase Commissioning
BY DAVE MCFARLANE, MEMBER ASHRAE; AND THOMAS FARMER, P.E., MEMBER ASHRAE

New building commissioning is a process with naval origins. A "commissioned" ship is one that has been fully tested, adjusted, and proven under the
hands of a trained crew; it's a thorough process carried out primarily after a
vessel has been constructed, christened, and launched.
In contrast-and as noted in the first article of this
series ("Technical Commissioning" in the June 2013
issue)-an effective technical commissioning process
must be integrated into the entire life cycle of a construction project, which for commissioning purposes can be
divided into four phases:
1. Planning;
2. Design;
3. Construction; and
4. Post-occupancy.
The second, third, and fourth articles in this series covered technical commissioning activities that take place
during the planning phase of the project.
With this article, we move into the design phase of the
project-therefore, this portion of the technical commissioning process can be referred to as design phase
commissioning (DPC). During DPC, the CxA carefully
this is the fifth in a series of bimonthly articles that explain the technical commissioning process
for new buildings. some of these articles' content is based on ASHRAE Guideline 0-2005, The
Commissioning Process (published 2005) and the National environmental balancing bureau (Nebb)
publication Procedural Standards for Whole Building Systems Technical Commissioning for New
Construction (revised April 2013). In addition, some of the information in this article series has been
adapted from an unpublished Nebb standard titled NEBB Standard Owner's Project Requirements
(OPR) Guideline (draft dated June 20, 2011); and from Nebb's Procedural Standards for Building
Enclosure Testing (March 2013).

ensures that every element of the Owners Project
Requirement (OPR) document is accounted for in the
building's schematic design, which is the first stage of
the design process.
Future articles will deal with construction phase and
post-occupancy phase commissioning. As we move forward, you'll notice that the differences between technical commissioning and process commissioning become
more pronounced in the later steps of the Cx process.

Understanding Design Phase Commissioning
ASHRAE Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process,
states, "During the Design Phase ... the Owner's Project
Requirements are translated into construction documents .... [The CxA verifies] the Basis of Design document with the OPR document [and performs a] commissioning-focused design review."
The National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB)
has also published a technical commissioning manual,
Procedural Standards for Whole Building Systems: Technical
Commissioning for New Construction (Fourth Edition, April
2013). NEBB describes design phase commissioning (in
part) as evaluating "the design for conformance to the

About the Authors Dave McFarlane is principal project director, and Thomas Farmer, P.E., is senior group manager at Atkins in Fort Myers, Fla.
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