Incorporating Green Building Features into Property Valuation Practices

The aim of this paper is to review the relationship between sustainability and property value in commercial real estate and provide some suggestions for valuers in recognising the sustainability features as part of property evaluation process. In doing so, the key factors that impact the valuation of commercial property are identified. The survey of stakeholders in Singapore’s real estate industry was also conducted. The findings indicate that the stakeholders generally recognise the importance of sustainability but with a strong focus on economic factors such as lower costs and asset financial performance. Though social benefits are recognised, their translation into financial value is more complex. Further quantitative and market studies are required to evidence the link between sustainable characteristics of buildings and their property value. Some guidelines have been proposed as a result of this study and they include improving data collection and storage, enhancement of the current valuation parameters to incorporate financial benefits of sustainability features as well as the need for continual learning and development in the area of sustainability

Raising the 3Ps of Sustainable Facilities Management in Singapore – Profession, Perception and Prospection

The purpose of this study is to determine if the target set by Singapore’s Inter-Ministerial Committee for Sustainable Development to have 80% of the buildings at least Green Mark certified by 2030 has any impact on raising the profession, perception and prospection (3Ps) of Sustainable Facilities Management (SFM) in Singapore. The objectives are to understand the tertiary students’ choice of study, determine the core knowledge for SFM, compare the pre-existing 3Ps of Tertiary Students (TS) and FM Practitioners (FMP), propose academic programs, measure the industry support to the proposed academic programs and skill sets and recommend marketing strategies to attract TS to the profession. The results from two surveys (one aimed at TS and the other to FMP) concurred that the target set by the IMCSD has an impact on raising the 3Ps of SFM in Singapore. The analysis further revealed that there were some differing views between TS and FMP on the 3Ps of SFM. Nonetheless, both respondents agreed that government played a pivotal role in generating greater awareness and recognition of SFM professions through effective marketing strategies to attract TS to the industry

Investigation Into Informational Compatibility Of Building Information Modelling And Building Performance Analysis Software Solutions

There are significant opportunities for Building Information Modelling (BIM) to address issues related to sustainable and energy efficient building design. While the potential benefits associated with the integration of BIM and BPA (Building Performance Analysis) have been recognised, its specifications and formats remain in their early infancy and often fail to live up to the promise of seamless interoperability at various stages of design process. This paper conducts a case study to investigate the interoperability between BIM and BPA tools, and discusses the limitations to suggest development of Information Delivery Manual (IDM) aiming to propose potential solutions for typical issues facing professionals in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry

Developing critical reading, thinking and discussion skills among students at a Masters level using virtual learning environment

Students entering higher education at Masters level often struggle to develop skills of critical reading, discussion and analysis. That lack of skills often affects the quality of students’ written coursework, even if such work shows an extensive knowledge and understanding of the topic. Academic literature suggests that skills, including cognitive ones, are best developed by repetition. However, even though graduate programs usually offer students lectures and tutorials on critical thinking and analysis, they often lack teaching capacity to repeat those activities until a desired level of students’ skills is achieved. This paper aims to introduce a teaching activity that would allow a repetition essential for developing the desired skills, which would at the same time require minimum teaching resources to support the activity. The proposed skill repetition activity took a form of generic Quizzes with automotive feedback embedded in Virtual Learning Environment. The students were asked to evaluate several academic articles by answering generic Quiz questions on the following 6 themes: purpose, literature review, objectives, research methods, findings and conclusions of an article. The students received an instantaneous feedback after submitting their answers by being able to see the answers given by their tutors on the same paper. The results were later discussed in class. The effectiveness of the developed on-line Quizzes were tested at two modules: one core and one elective, which have the same assessment type; summative assignment consisting of 2500 words report. The MSc course in question is delivered by face-to-face teaching at two locations: at one location it is delivered via traditional classroom based teaching, on other — via blended learning. Both cohorts were included. The success of the proposed approach was judged based on the following criteria: - students' performance in their first written submission at the end of the semester compared with performance on the same submission showed in the previous year; - improvement of individual students’ skills, based on the improvement of their answers in each successive quiz as compared to tutors' answers; - a feedback about those quizzes received from the students; - amount of teaching resources required to support the quizzes. So far we have only marks for student's submission for one module, however, the paper will report findings for both modules. The findings revealed that: - in comparison to the previous year, students’ average mark in their first written submission has increased from 'good' to ‘very good’; the spread of marks within the cohort was narrower; the spread of marks between a first and a second supervisor was substantially reduced. - the results from successive quizzes showed a gradual improvement in individual student’s critical thinking and analysis skills. - feedback from the students revealed that they found the quizzes activities helpful in developing their skills of critical reading of published literature. - the amount of teaching resources needed for a continuous support of the quizzes was reduced to a minimum. The study revealed a value of a proposed activity in developing students' skills of critical reading, discussion and analysis. Some limitations were also revealed, such as a need for substantial initial teaching resources. It would also be beneficial to replicate a study on a bigger cohort

Heating Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) equipment taxonomy

Past efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the non-domestic building sector have had limited success in the UK. One of the reasons for this is a general absence of data addressing the non-domestic building sector, leading further to a lack of transparent and validated methods for energy use benchmarks and both statistical and predictive energy use modelling. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a heating ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment taxonomy that will allow compatibility across building sector energy modelling, benchmarking and surveying. The paper presents a comprehensive, yet easily expandable, friendly to use HVAC equipment taxonomy. The main aim of the HVAC equipment taxonomy is to assist both predictive and statistical building energy end use modelling, surveying fieldwork and analysis of all building types and the allocation of energy to end uses. The HVAC equipment taxonomy developed also includes information about equipment energy efficiency in terms of efficiency coefficients or auxiliary energy consumption for both design and part load. This is supported by a review of what are sometimes contradicting and ill-defined energy efficiency indices, especially with regard to part-load operation

A Comparison of the ASHRAE Secondary HVAC Toolkit Detailed and Simple Cooling Coil Models with Manufacturers' Data

Modelling a complete HVAC system requires a detailed knowledge of the system component performance. One of the main components of the HVAC system is the air handling unit (AHU), the essence of which is the cooling coil, a complex component to model. The HVAC Secondary Toolkit, developed by ASHRAE, presents two cooling and dehumidifying coil models; detailed (CCDET) and simple (CCSIM). The CCDET model is suitable for coils for which detailed geometrical data are available, whereas the CCSIM model calculates coil performance based on the coil properties at its rating point. Data necessary for determining coil geometry have been collected from several manufacturers’ catalogues. In addition, some manufacturers also publish the coil characteristics at the rating point, but these data are very limited and cover only a few coils from the whole product range. When available, these data are compared to the CCDET model outputs calculated for the same inputs stated in the manufacturer catalogue. The CCSIM model uses CCDET outputs at the rating point for coil performance calculations. The paper compares the outputs from these two models over the whole range of input variables (mass flow rates, entering temperatures and humidity ratios). Some manufacturers also provide coil selection software which calculates the coil performance at different operating conditions. This paper also compares the outputs from the CCDET coil model using manufacturers’ geometrical data with CCSIM coil model outputs, hence providing practical guidance regarding the choice of an appropriate level of modelling when carrying out AHU simulations

Systems for construction: Lessons for the construction industry from experiences in spacecraft systems engineering

Construction projects are becoming ever more ambitious in terms of the size of structures, the number of requirements, the number and influence of stakeholders and the extent to which technology is integrated into buildings. Although great buildings may historically have been designed and built by a single guiding mind - 'the architect' - modern buildings require teams of specialists to work together to develop ideal solutions. In these circumstances, to ensure that construction projects are delivered on time, to budget and to the requirements specified by the customer, the construction industry could benefit from adopting a systems' engineering approach to design. Based on 45 years of spacecraft instrumentation research and development and over 10 years experience teaching Systems Engineering in a range of industries, University College London's (UCL's) Mullard Space Science Laboratory has identified a set of guiding principles that have been found to be critical in delivering successful projects in the most demanding of environments. The five principles are: 'principles govern processes', 'seek alternative systems perspectives', 'understand the enterprise context', 'integrate systems engineering and project management' and 'invest in the early stages of projects'. Underlying these principles is a will to anticipate and respond to a changing environment with a focus on achieving long-term value for the enterprise. These principles are applied in both space projects and nonspace projects (through UCL's Centre for Systems Engineering), and are embedded in UCL's teaching and professional training programme. These principles could contribute to the successful delivery of complex building projects

Bridging The Performance Gap: Information Delivery Manual Framework To Improve Life-Cycle Information Availability

Buildings account up to one-third of all global energy, and it will more than double in th e next 50 years. In order to accurately predict the energy performance of buildings and improve the analysis methodologies, researchers have developed hundreds of algorithms to simplify or semi-automate the analysis process. However, there is significant evidence to suggest that buildings do not perform as well in practice as was anticipated at the design stage. Findings from a number of existing studies revealed that actual energy consumption is often twice as much as predicted. The major contributors to the performance gap are lack of available information that exists at different stages of the formal building life cycle and delivery process. This paper proposes a framework to develop an integrated and seamless Information Delivery Manual (IDM) by extending the existing IDM approaches to identify and document the information required for building performance analysis

Creating a platform for effective academic and pastoral care in borderless teaching

This paper presents UCL’s Bartlet School of Graduate Studies (BSGS) experience in translating a traditionally delivered face-to-face Masters programme into borderless teaching including a special focus on pastoral care. BSGS’s MSc course Facility and Environment Management was established in London in 1992, to cover the provision and management of facilities and support services that sustain high performing organisations. Since 2010 it is delivered in two locations: London and Singapore, maintaining parity in terms of the course content and its assessment. The delivery in Singapore utilises blended learning methods including concentrated periods of block teaching and live video conferencing. The students in both locations share the same virtual learning environment (VLE) that supports the course modules by providing readings, seminar presentations including still and video, a discussion forum and coursework hand-in. So far there is little difference in student results and satisfaction between the different locations or between the different modes of delivery making this course an important example of successful borderless teaching. Nevertheless, the area where we considered that course delivery could improve was in providing improved personal academic and pastoral care. Initially, the course director was available for virtual office hours for one hour a week via Skype and maintained regular email contact with the whole Singapore cohort. However we believed that a better student experience and greater parity in academic and pastoral care for the two cohorts would be delivered by embedding the possibility of real-time, visual, face-to-face contact with the course director as well as with all module tutors within the existing VLE. This has now been developed. The students will themselves evaluate the success of the concept via a bespoke questionnaire study. The paper will describe the tools and their use, and the feedback available to date