Oz PCH – Bomb Shells and Project Roles and Responsibilities Update.
Introduction
Almost at the half-way point through Phase 2 and having covered a lot of ground since AER 1, I thought I’d share the shaping (mostly by me) of my attachment. With regular DAP progress mtgs with my LM, the latest of which (17th July) the Building Services Director sat in on, he decided to drop a small yet not insignificant bomb shell – he has done his best Judas Iscariot impression by handing in his notice to leave JHG (in a month) to work for Westfield Construction (shopping centres). Not good news considering we are in the middle of commissioning, with issues popping up every day, and he is the Commissioning Manager!
The week prior we (the commissioning team) had a re-alignment of project roles and responsibilities. Interestingly my LM still had a hefty work load and was giving himself more! So you can imagine this has raised a number of questions, like; “Who is your replacement and will your position be gapped?”
Roles and Responsibilities
The following are my main roles with basic detail and examples where applicable:
1. System Availability Programme Analysis.
2. Fire System Integration/Cause & Effect Commissioning.
3. Building Performance Testing Management.
4. Performance Testing & Client Witnessing Programme Planning.
5. BIM 360 Field Commissioning Strategy Management.
Figure 1. Commissioning Team Structure.
1. System Availability Programme Analysis
This consists of tying in the construction delivery programme with the commissioning programme. There are many factors affecting the ability for a system to remain ‘on-target’ for completion and therefore proves quite challenging to coordinate. A few examples are commissioning delays due to procurement issues; the lighting supplier experiencing manufacturing hold-ups and; late supply of the south side atrium façade affecting balancing of AHUs.
The latter example involved me searching through many detailed shop drawings and the Federated BIM Model to establish which air diffusers and grills are open to the atrium thus affecting the balancing of the AHU they are associated with. If the AHUs were balanced in their current state any building dust and debris would potentially contaminate the ductwork and would require cleaning all over again, not to mention give false air balance readings due to the large amount of air flow from the open space to the atrium. Figure 2 shows the current condition with the photo taken from the ground floor of the atrium with Levels 2 (Central Sterilising Services Department (CSSD)) & 3 (Operating Theatres) both open to the atrium. Both levels continue off to the left of the photo and present a significant opening.
Figure 2. The Affected Open Levels to the Atrium.
The atrium glass façade fitted by subcontractor, Annapurna, is to be 90 mm thick and fire rated to 2 hours. Figure 3 shows the BIM Architectural Model of how it will look once complete (same angle as the photo in Fig1). Figure 4 shows the two levels from on top of the Level 1 balcony.
Figure 3. The Closed off Levels to the Atrium.
Figure 4. Atrium Facades in place viewing from Level 1 Balcony.
2. Fire System Integration/Cause & Effect Commissioning
This is a Cause & Effect Matrix based on a fire/smoke fault condition and explains what various systems should or shouldn’t do in a fire/smoke scenario. Fire and Smoke is just one of ten scenarios where the building is experiencing a fault condition. This particular Cause & Effect is quite complex especially when you consider that in normal operation mode certain rooms/areas are either negatively pressurised (infectious disease ward) or positively pressurised (operating theatres). Essentially the fire/smoke management system is stand-alone and hard-wired into various Variable Speed Drives (VSDs). These control specific AHU fans, fire and smoke dampers, wet and dry fire suppression systems and fire/escape door opening/closing systems. These are all monitored by the Building Management System (BMS).
3. Building Performance Testing Management
This is testing and assessing the performance of various systems and ensuring that they conform to Australian Standards, the design specification and ultimately meets the client’s technical specification.
4. Performance Testing & Client Witnessing Programme Planning
This is taking the above various performance tests and allowing the client to witness them. An example of which is the UPS room which will be covered in a separate blog.
5. BIM 360 Field Strategy Management
This consists of managing and coordinating the documentation and data entry of all commissionable systems into BIM 360 Field in order to meet the client’s requirement of Level of Detail (LOD) 500. This has meant creating a Commissioning Register in BIM 360 Field and a process that enables the commissioning team to track the progress of each system through its commissioning. Being a bespoke and innovative method of information management and integrating it with BIM Models has meant learning an entirely new way of doing business, one which has required deeper understanding of REVIT (CAD) Models and BIM in general so that I could conduct training workshops and aid the subcontractors in their understanding.
An additional task, which was confirmed in my latest CPD/DAP mtg by the Building Services Director, is for me to write up the BIM 360 Field Commissioning Implementation Plan for the PCH Project. Producing this document now may seem a little back to front considering we should have met Practical Completion in early July 15. However, BIM 360 Field was not procured until 2 yrs into the project and the original BIM Project Implementation Plan (by PDC) therefore had no mention of 360 Field. In addition, we are only now learning the challenges in its utility as a commissioning progress and information management tool. It will hopefully be similar to a lessons learnt document you might read from a previous operational tour; its intention to provide important information and help write a generic BIM 360 Field Commissioning implementation Plan. This will then aid JHG Corporate Staff in potentially combining it into a greater JHG Strategic BIM Implementation Plan. This gives me a great opportunity to re-inforce the recommendations that fell out of the conclusions I made in my TMR on BIM – What are the advantages of Building Information Modelling and how does its implementation allow John Holland Group to become the market leader?
In Other News
Han and I went to see Clarkson, May and Hammond Live at the Perth Arena. Excellent, with supercar porn (figure 5) and top banter aimed at the BBC for Clarkson’s Top Gear faux pas. The motorised lacrosse (figure 6), clearly car football but renamed for legal reasons to avoid Top Gear backlash, was hilarious even though the final score was Eng 4 – Aus 5.
Figure 5. Supercar Porn.
Figure 6. Motorised Lacrosse.
Finally, and proving that even when you’re out on a social you’re always learning, I experienced an excellent example of an innovative carpark system. It is the underground carpark of the Perth Arena and as you can see from the photo in Figure 7 at the end of each row there are LED boards informing you of how many spaces are free in that row. Then when you turn in to that row you see a line of LEDs, red or green, with one next to each parking bay – the green ones being empty. Like Aleksandr the meerkat would say “makes finding a parking space simples”.
Figure 7. Perth Arena Advanced Underground Carpark System.
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Fran, nice blog. The departure of the commissioning manager (or similar equivalent), is quite common during Phase 2 and represents an opportunity to grab more responsibility. John Wilson ended up virtually running the show at Melbourne Airport. See if there are opportunities to be grabbed arising from this resignation.