“2 Parramatta Square is a great example of what we can achieve when the HVAC, BMS and FM specialists are aligned in their objectives,” said Wissam Salama, Precise Air’s General Manager Building Performance Optimisation.

Since 2014 Precise Air Group’s Building Performance Optimisation team has worked closely with the BGIS FM team to develop a strategy to improve the performance of the building without the need for major capex spend.

In 2014 the BPO team undertook a programme of fine tuning, implementing a range of initiatives including seasonal deadbands and voting techniques at the terminal level, demand control and variable set points at the plants level, closely tuning thermal plants staging with demand control and variable set points reset, and changes to the chiller strategies.

“This year, our NABERS targets were 5.5 stars for Base Building Energy and 4 stars for Water with zero capex spend,” explained Wissam. “We achieved these by applying our proactive optimisation model and using our human learning strategies to achieve optimal results,” explained Wissam.

If you would like more information about how Precise Air can help you raise the NABERS ratings of your commercial or retail facility, please contact Wissam Salama on 1300 728 250.

We are pleased to announce that Precise Air has been awarded the HVAC maintenance contract, providing programmed and reactive maintenance services to 20 sites in the Council area.

“The Greater Parramatta area is experiencing significant growth, attracting an increasing number of government and commercial headquarters, services, entertainment venues and residents,” said Joe Mazza, Precise Air’s Director – National Business Development.

“Locally based, we are ideally located to deliver PPM and emergency mechanical services and Building Performance Optimisation to the Council’s community and administration sites.”

If you would like to find out more about Precise Air’s services, please contact Joe Mazza on 1300 728 250.

“The CitySwitch program gives us the opportunity to put into practice for our own business what we already achieve for our customers,” explained Nadeem Tayar, Managing Director of Precise Air Group.

“Improvements in NABERS ratings, reduction in waste and increasing the use of recyclable goods are just as achievable for tenants like us as it is for the large property owners we work for,” continued Nadeem. “It’s encouraging to see our team working together to make improvements in their own workplace.”

If you would like more information about joining CitySwitch Green Office, visit http://cityswitch.net.au/.

To find out how Precise Air can help you reduce the energy your building consumes, contact Nadeem Tayar on 1300 728 250.

Victorian building owners have the opportunity to apply for matched funding assistance of up to $30,000 for:

• energy audits
• energy efficiency upgrades
• energy efficiency improvement measurement and verification, including NABERS ratings.

Works can only be undertaken by Service Providers that have been appointed to the Panel.

Our Building Performance Optimisation team specialises in energy efficiency audits, upgrades and fine tuning that improves your NABERS rating. Our mechanical and controls engineers work with your Facility Management team to understand your building strategy and  thoroughly analyse the capabilities of the existing systems.  We then develop a solution to maximise the benefit you can gain from the funding assistance and your budget.

If you would like to know more about how we can assist you to assess your requirements, apply for the programme funding and undertake the works, please contact Keenan McGrath on 1300 834 942.

For more information about the Better Commercial Buildings and Local Government Energy Saver program, click here.

Security protocols and close contract management on this type of account are paramount.

“Due to our work over the years on portfolios with similar requirements, we have built high security protocols into our contract management frameworks,” explains Precise Air’s Director National Business Development, Sam La Rocca. “This has enabled our teams to quickly and easily transition into new contracts that require the highest levels of screening and induction.”

Precise Air Group has effectively established mechanical and fire services that deliver high quality PPM, ad hoc works and equipment upgrades to secure facilities including:

• NSW Police Force
• Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions
• Qantas domestic airports
• Long Bay Prison and Forensic Hospital
• Villawood Detention Centre
• Federal Member of Parliament offices.

For more information, please contact Sam La Rocca on 1300 728 250.

Precise Air’s Building Performance Optimisation team reviewed the traditional BMS Preventative Maintenance programmes in place with two differing customers – a portfolio customer and a single facility customer – who were trying to find ways to reduce the cost of their BMS maintenance.

Building Performance Optimisation Manager, Wissam Salama, worked closely with the BMS providers and facility managers to identify where savings could be made. “We assessed the value of each the tasks performed and determined that more than 35% were redundant and skilled resources were underutilised,” said Wissam, “that is, highly skilled technicians were duplicating checks across the system and completing simplistic tasks.”

“Traditional BMS maintenance incorporates reviews on a large number of point to point checks for the sake of checking the point,” explained Wissam. “That is, it focuses on checking that ‘what is working…is working’ and prioritises maintenance over higher risk tasks. This is not only ‘labour hour’ intensive, it yields minimal benefit to the client and also fails to recognise where improvements can be made.”

Alternatively, Performance Based Maintenance checks for abnormalities through present and historical data, giving the operator a better insight into where the systems can be optimised. It is not about replacing existing systems, but maximising what is already in place.

“Our approach is to analyse the building prior to making any changes, to establish baselines and current parameters. Then we carry out a risk assessment on the whole BMS, rating the critical points and concentrating on these points rather than the whole system.  We then re-scope the BMS maintenance tasks to focus on identifying abnormalities, alarm management and improving performance and redistribute lower level BMS activities to HVAC technicians,” continued Wissam. “This delivers considerable savings direct to our clients, reducing labour hours by up to 35% annually and reducing administration and paperwork while achieving the same outcomes.”

“Precise Air is not aiming to be a BMS provider. Rather, we are focused on working with the existing BMS provider and the facility manager to come up with a more efficient process. Increasingly this means we are taking on responsibility for managing the BMS provider, giving facility managers the added advantage of one point of contact (or one service call) for all HVAC related BMS calls,” continued Wissam. “We are already on site maintaining the HVAC equipment and can quickly assess whether it is a lower level BMS issue that our HVAC technician can fix, or whether it is a higher level task that requires a service call from the BMS provider… we take control of the entire process until it is rectified.”

If you would like to find out more about switching to a Performance Based BMS Maintenance routine, contact Wissam Salama on 1300 728 25, or read our case study: BMS Performance Based Maintenance

Precise Air’s in-house Building Performance Optimisation team includes NABERS assessors, qualified engineers and technicians who are at the forefront of technological change. Our team assess and fine tune your systems to maximise their performance and ensure you meet your obligations.

Precise Air’s Building Performance Optimisation team has successfully achieved a NABERS 5 Star Energy rating for Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (Brookfield GIS) at the Headquarters of a large NSW agency. This was completed by fine tuning the building at low cost, in the process reducing electricity consumption by 20% and gas by 30% for the same period in the previous year.

“Our success with this 5 Star NABERS certification centres on our approach,” explained Wissam Salama, Precise Air’s Building Performance Optimisation Manager. “Our approach differs from most in that we take the time to learn and understand the building, working closely with the building management team to avoid unnecessary and costly upgrades to equipment.”

“We realise that over the years every building will change from its original design due to a range of issues…new and changing tenancy requirements, altered layouts, different maintenance providers and upgrades to equipment,” Wissam explained. “This all impacts on the efficiency of a building and takes it further away from its designed intent.”

“As we were not the incumbent service providers, we needed time to understand the building and its performance,” Wissam continued. “We took the equipment back to design intent, to more thoroughly analyse the capabilities of the existing systems. Then we started fine tuning the building, piece by piece. This helped avoid unnecessary expense in upgrading equipment.”

Initiatives included implementing seasonable deadbands and voting techniques at the terminal level, demand control and variable set points at the plants level, closely tuning thermal plants staging with demand control and variable set points reset, achieved by working closely with the BMS specialists. “Together we started changing the chiller strategies utilising the existing systems without any additional hardware or extra labour,” Wissam explained. “Changes were made to the chilled water system including, chiller lockout, chiller staging, capacity control and pressure control.”

Ultimately Precise Air was able to achieve the 5 Star rating without a Greenpower component and minimal financial outlay. “Our offering is based around solutions, not selling products,” explained Wissam. “Our ‘performance based service’ is focused on the end results, provides immediate ROI, reduces cost and saves energy.”

But the real secret to success was in the close collaboration and relationship that developed between Precise Air, Brookfield GIS’ technical and facility management teams, and Honeywell, the BMS provider.

“It was refreshing to work with suppliers who were focused on advising us, helping us and working with us to achieve this NABERS certification,” said Luke Ghosn, Brookfield GIS Account Manager. “We set Precise Air and our other suppliers the challenge of achieving this goal with minimal cost to our client and our business. Wissam and his team left no stone unturned, spending months interrogating systems, collaborating with our Facilities Management team, Business Support team and Honeywell to deliver certification with minimal expenditure. Right from the beginning they said they wanted to work in partnership with us,” Luke continued, “as part of our team…and that is exactly what we have achieved. An excellent result for all involved.”

“It was great working with such dedicated professionals who were keen to develop a deep level of trust,” Wissam continued. “Brookfield GIS’ team included assistance from the National Sustainability Manager Kristy Rogan, the Facility Management team of Natt Chamkunthod, Luke Ghosn and Adam Persic, and the National Technical Team. They supported our approach right from the start and were keen to listen to any suggestions we had.”

Any fine tuning exercise is dependent on the combination of the mechanical services with the building management controls systems. “Our skills in mechanical engineering and experience with BMS, along with Joseph Ross’ service skills were complemented by Honeywell’s BMS expert Keiran Long.”

For more information, please contact Wissam Salama, Building Performance Optimisation Manager on 1300 728 250

Precise Air’s strategic focus on energy efficiency and sustainability has led to the appointment of Wissam Salama, an experienced BMS, HVAC and electrical engineer.

Joe Mazza, Director of Operations and Sustainability, explains that “ because our team are at the coal face every day applying our knowledge to the optimisation of the mechanical systems, we understand that we need to bring the other services on board, including electrical and controls, to deliver the best performance for our clients.”

Wissam will lead Precise Air’s Building Performance Optimisation Solutions offering and work closely with clients and the Precise Air teams to design and deliver improved energy efficiency and system performance from the mechanical and electrical systems, through to lighting, gas and water.

“Wissam is one of the new breed of engineers who thinks outside the box and ties together all of the disciplines that affect the energy efficiency and lifecycle of a building,” said Joe.

“We will offer an independent review of our clients’ systems and provide effective, sustainable alternatives that engineer risk out of their sites, lessening their reliance on proprietary systems,” continues Joe. “The team will also explore renewable energy strategies for existing buildings and new building projects.”

For more information about Precise Air’s Building Performance Optimisation Solutions, please contact Joe Mazza on 1300 728 250.