Welcome - MMT Online Magazine

Spring 2005

Integration of Elevator Call System with Building Access Control System (Seamless Entry)
By Carl Galioto, FAIA and Nicholas Holt, AIA
The development of elevator call systems based on occupant-specific destination (destination control systems) and the ongoing proliferation of building access control systems offers an opportunity for a convergence of purposes and functions into one integrated system.

Report from the Construction Institute's Constructability Committee
Introduction by MM&T's Constructability Editors

Constructability State of Practice
by James B. Pocock
The Construction Institute's Constructability Committee created a web-based survey which was hosted in the spring and summer of 2003 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL). Approximately 100 owners, architects, engineers, consultants, contractors and construction managers answered the survey's ten questions and provided written comments. The results provide a picture of current constructability practices in the A/E/C (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry and progress in recent years.

Commissioning
The Cost-Effectiveness of Commissioning New and Existing Commercial Buildings: Lessons from 224 Buildings
By Evan Mills, Norman Bourassa, Mary Ann Piette, Hannah Friedman, Tudi Haasl, Tehesia Powell and David Claridge
Building commissioning can play a major and strategically important role in attaining broader national energy savings goals—with a potential of $18 billion or more in savings each year. As technologies and applications change and/or become more complex in the effort to capture greater energy savings, the risk of under-performance will rise and the value of building commissioning will increase. Indeed, innovation driven by the desire for increased energy efficiency may itself inadvertently create energy waste if those systems are not designed, implemented and operated properly.

Legal
Discovering Discovery
By Richard K. Allen, P.E., Esq. and Leah A. Rochwarg, Esq.
One reason that litigation is a particularly difficult and expensive process is discovery. Discovery, in the context of litigation, is a formal process in which opposing lawyers seek information from each party and others. Discovery occurs after commencement of a lawsuit and may continue to the eve of trial. It is subject to complex rules of procedure and involves mandatory access to documents and witnesses.

Safety
Improving Construction Safety through a Project's Design: The Impact of Design on Safety
By John A. Gambatese, Ph.D., P.E.
Construction safety is commonly viewed as 'something the contractor does' and, at the advice of their legal counsel, designers keep safety at arm's length in order to limit their liability exposure to third–party lawsuits. As a result, the constructor is commonly the sole party involved in making a project safe to build.

Social & Environmental
Green Builders Forum
Your Questions Answered about Building Green
How does LEED impact my duty of approving drawings?

Is LEED a necessary component of a sustainable or green building?

Please send your questions for the next edition of Means, Methods & Trends to Lonnie Coplen at lcoplen@nyc.rr.com.

Sustainable Development and LEED
By Kay Copp Brown and Lonnie Coplen(Department Editor)
Many scientists around the world predict the temperature of the earth will rise 2 to 3 degrees in this century and the result to the world's climate will be more desertification, severe storms and melting of the artic icecaps. Sea levels will rise and loss of land in ten countries will result. Middleton, in his book Tears of the Crocodile (1991), lists ten countries in the world that will have significant areas submerged if current trends continue. Mawhinney, a former head of International Construction in the British Government, refers to these countries as "ten drowned countries" in his book Sustainable Development (2002). It is a shocking yet eerily familiar image in the wake of the tragic tsunami in the Indian Ocean in the final days of 2004.

Viewpoints
Energy: The Cornerstone of Sustainability
By Ron Vallort, P.E., Pres. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
The energy crisis of the 1970s created a movement in the HVAC R and related industries to create buildings that were energy efficient. Thirty years later, the industry is again shifting toward a new way of doing business. As the world has increased in population and developed technologically, the consequences of uncontrolled growth are being recognized: pollution, toxic waste creation, waste disposal, global climate change, ozone depletion, deforestation and resource depletion, and water and energy shortages. The built environment contributes significantly to these effects.