Building Envelope Forum

8:00 a.m. Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:45 a.m. Introduction & Opening Remarks
Bruce Taylor, Executive Director, OBEC

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Understanding the Building as a System: From Design to Use

This presentation will focus on the building envelope as a system, and provide an overview of the most important challenge: how to keep water out and heat in as the mechanisms that allow water to infiltrate and heat to exfiltrate are examined. From the design stage through to building occupancy – how are the elements of the building envelope serving to maintain an ideal indoor environment, reduce energy consumption, and increase the lifecycle of the building?

Scott Armstrong, Associate, Halcrow Yolles

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Refreshment Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
What Are Your Envelope Retrofit Options, and What Will They Cost?

A building envelope retrofit can achieve the perfect balance between the economy and ecology. The financial rewards gained by using qualified professionals and trades people are long lasting, and a long-term investment approach can yield better returns than the financial markets.

Reduced energy use not only saves money, but it significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. What are your envelope retrofit options? What do they cost? This presentation will provide an overview, and correlate how building specifiers, designers, and owners can evaluate their options to pursue a green rating certification, and/or get involved in Tower Renewal; and the benefits and challenges of building overcladding will be featured.

Kevin Day, Building Science and Cladding Specialist, Halsall Associates Ltd.

John English, Restoration and Green Building Project Manager, Halsall Associates Ltd.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Networking Luncheon

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
An Overview of Rating Systems and Net Zero Buildings, and the Effect the Building Envelope has on a Green Building

IThis presentation will cover the range of building assessment systems, from LEED and BOMA BESt (formerly Go Green), through to Net Zero buildings. What is “green” or “sustainable” and what does that mean in the context of building design decisions and material choices? Understand how to design with, specify, and integrate green materials, and the environmental impact of envelope material and installation choices.

Mark Lucuik, Principal and Corporate Lead, Green Buildings and Sustainability,
Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers

2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Refreshment Break

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Moisture Management of the Vertical Building Envelope
or You Have to be Very Smart Because Walls Can be Very Stupid

Moisture control in buildings requires that the designers have unusual insight and meticulously detail the envelope to have the wall system function as conceived, or they must design a generously forgiving wall that allows moisture to move in and out without significant consequence. If the designer hasn’t a scientific understanding of building physics or the project budget does not permit a separate consultant be engaged, a “modern” wall system may not be a good choice. The session will cover, by examples, designs that seemed sound on paper from a moisture management perspective but failed in practice because the designs failed to incorporate a complete understanding of the interrelationship between the structural and envelope components, and environment to which the building was to be exposed – each with uncontrolled water ingress as a consequence. The session will end with a partial checklist of issues to be addressed to help incorporate rational moisture management into the design.

Gerald Genge, President, GRG Building Consultants

3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
High Performance Buildings:
An Open Forum Focusing on What Can and Can't be Achieved?

This discussion will focus on the elements of a building envelope that are often specified in the creation of a high-performance building. How can they be integrated to offer the results expected? What are the most effective ways to avoid conflicts between roofing, cladding, and the HVAC system? How can glass and glazing, insulation, and airflow networks affect HVAC requirements, and therefore the energy consumption of the building?

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Bruce Taylor, Executive Director, OBEC
Scott Armstrong, Associate, Halcrow Yolles

Kevin Day, Building Science and Cladding Specialist, Halsall Associates Ltd.
John English, Restoration and Green Building Project Manager, Halsall Associates Ltd.
Gerald Genge, President, GRG Building Consultants
Mark Lucuik, Principal and Corporate Lead, Green Buildings and Sustainability,
Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers

4:15 p.m. Conference Adjourns