Sustainability isn’t just some add-on that has emerged in the last 12 years. It’s been understood for the past 20 years, according to David Chokolich, GHD principal and director of the Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA).
When it comes to the built environment, he said, industry already knows how to get it right. It’s just an ongoing battle getting everyone to invest money in good design and sustainability.
“Engineers are taught to look at all the options and then make the best case going forward so we know the way things should be built,” Chokolich said.
“Projects should be engineered with options, not just the one option which is going with whatever is the cheapest.”
Outlining the role of a facility manager, Chokolich said “we are the conduit between owners, tenants and suppliers”.
“We are the person in the middle, we tie it all together and we want to deliver good results, to be influencers and decision-makers,” he said.
“As facility managers tasked with managing assets our job isn’t just to replace products like-for-like. If we put a new chiller in the building that’s exactly the same as the old one there is not going to be any savings. It’s about making an investment in the property and improving operations,” he said.
He said positive steps forward have been made in recent years to provide industry with useful resources and tools to be successful.
One example is the Federal Government’s High Efficiency Systems Strategy (HESS) project, which identified areas to improve efficiency. “Out of 24 recommendations the government only funded six projects,” he said.
Chokolich was directly involved in a number of these projects including the Best Practice Guide to Maintenance and Operations and the “almost launched” Building Services Log Book.
“Just prior to the last election, Labor ran out of money so a lot of funding was scrapped including the log book project,” he said. Initiatives that were completed include the Cool Tool calculator, which measures energy use and identifies system improvements, and the Measuring, Monitoring and Metering project.
“There has been some great work done to date but there are still gaps that need to be addressed,” Chokolich said.
“One of the main things I see as a consultant is the critical need for maintenance records and log books. So many buildings don’t even have asset registries.
“The bottom line is that well maintained equipment is more efficient.”
Chokolich said the next opportunity for improvement is through Life Cycle Assessment.
“What is the best return over the life of a system or building? That’s the road we need to go down now,” he said.
Chokolich was joined on stage by Jon Seeley, the executive director of Climate Wizard at Seeley International.
Seeley hosted the Q&A session after Chokolich’s presentation and agreed that maintenance is one area that is often neglected.
“Our customers tell us they want equipment that needs minimal maintenance that is why we build it into the design of our products,” Seeley said.
“Most people know they have to maintain a car but kind of hope they don’t have to do it to maintain their air conditioner.”