Building Envelope Commissioning One of the key skills in building envelope commissioning is to understand what you are getting into, and be aware of the limitations of your company's skill set. Although you are more than likely aware of the aspects of envelope commissioning which are mandatory for work, you may not be aware of other factors that are out of your control and may impact on your outcome.
Building envelope commissioning is a service that is generally provided by professional engineers. The job of the professional engineer is to identify potential risk areas within the envelope structure and advise you on the mitigation procedures which should be undertaken. It is also important to understand that the company you hire to commission the work is more than likely having a very good idea of the different types of materials and combinations of materials that can make up the envelope structure, as well as being in possession of the results of envelope commissioning tests. There are many aspects that have to be addressed when it comes to envelope commissioning. Although the main elements will involve the design of the envelope construction, there are several other aspects which should be addressed in order to get the best results from your
envelope structure commissioning project. Factors such as acoustic evaluation, strength, wear and tear, humidity and damping, as well as general construction design issues will all be part of envelope commissioning. The acoustic evaluation process may be where a range of parameters are analyzed, the main ones being the acoustics of the envelope structure. There are two main types of envelope structure which require acoustic evaluation: horizontal and vertical. The elements which will determine if a certain envelope structure is suitable for envelope commissioning are width, height and overall form. The type of envelope commissioning you choose will dictate the requirements, as far as general structure goes, but the acoustic testing is not so relevant in envelope commissioning of vertical envelope structures. In any case, the envelope structure that is commissioned needs to provide for the basic framework of the envelope structure. As such, the building's envelope structural tests may need to be completed before the envelope structure can be commissioned. This is to ensure that the foundation of the envelope structure will provide sufficient strength, and will meet the overall building envelope requirements. Based on this process, the envelope structure will be commissioned, and a free plan drawn, before it is undertaken. Another element of the building envelope commissioning is the method of construction. The choice of method of construction, as outlined in the envelope commissioning work plan, will make a significant difference to the cost of envelope commissioning. This will often need to be specified during the envelope commissioning process, but as far as envelope commissioning process is concerned, there are two general methods: the transfer of the envelope structure from the building site to the environment and the implementation of the envelope structure after the building envelope structure has been constructed. When the envelope structure is transferred to the environment, this generally involves taking the envelope structure to the building site and fitting it in the place it needs to be fitted. It is usually the case that
the envelope structure is moved to the building site first, and then it is assembled. This method is known as the 'deployed envelope structure' method, and it has its advantages and disadvantages. In terms of the deployment of the envelope structure, there are two main options. The option that is normally used is to build the envelope structure entirely from the ground up. However, some companies may be inclined to design the envelope structure around the outside envelope structure which was built in the same way as an envelope structure.