Industry insight

from HVAC&R News April-May 2022

HVAC&R News regulars

A SEISMIC SHIFT

Sustainability is becoming a core design and delivery imperative that impacts every part of construction – including trades.

How buildings perform affects their value. This places increasing pressure on engineering design – and the trades that deliver it – to ensure systems will function efficiently. And making this possible relies on increasing the capacity and knowledge of trade subcontractors. While subbies and tradies often have the least influence on overall project design and program decisions, you have more power than you might realise to influence final outcomes. This is evident in passive improvements such as making sure the final ductwork design is smooth and paying attention to the small but crucial details, such as quality of tapes and sealants.

Other things that can be done that do not compromise timeframes or budgets include taking the time to understand the overall project design strategy so you can specify and build from that intent. It is also valuable to investigate the type of operation the system is expected to have, for example, has it been designed for realistic everyday operation versus designing for a peak load scenario? And if you are specifying systems that will cope with a climate-changed world, spell that out in your tender documentation. This kind of effort has a long-term pay off. For a trade or subcontractor to have sustainable projects on your track record is a positive market differentiator. Word of mouth is also a powerful form of advertising – the engineer or builder who talks about the value a trade or subbie added to their recent project is the kind of promotion that helps attract non-competitive RFQs. This is a big win when you attract repeat projects because you are already doing things in a sustainable way.

Increasingly we are also seeing public projects and institutional investor-led developments specifying requirements around the sustainability track records of the main contractors, such as HAVC&R. The time is not far away when everyone in the industry will have to get with the sustainability program. There are a few strategies I use to help trades gain more expertise and knowledge in this space. One of the most important ones is taking a flexible approach to early design, so there can be flexibility during delivery.

Another is ensuring climate change resilience has been incorporated into design and that the rationale for those decisions is explained to the trades who will deliver it. This is particularly relevant to HVAC&R where we have to ensure systems are right-sized for a warming world and have resilience to extreme events.

This kind of information can quite quickly pass from consultants to subcontractors when a construction contractor has a project culture that encourages dialogue and collaboration. It is up to everyone involved in projects to enable a learning mindset and not just behave in a super-contractual way with each other.

I always encourage any trade subcontractor to ask questions. If you are working with a friendly engineering consultant, ask questions about sustainability and climate change adaptation. We are passionate about sustainability, so we are willing to have a chat. ■