Survey seeks info from managers of high-tech facilities

The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I²SL), and Laney College in Oakland, California, a National Science Foundation-funded Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Center, are collaborating to identify education and training needs and strategies for high-tech facility operators. Through our interactions with industry stakeholders on multiple occasions, it is apparent that available education and training paths do not adequately address the increasingly complex knowledge and skills needed to operate and maintain high-tech facilities. Compared to commercial facilities, environmental health and safety liabilities and worker risks are much greater, the building energy use intensities are higher, and the building occupant needs are more volatile and complex. With many more high-tech facilities being created and their energy and sustainability performance requirements becoming more stringent, we expect an even greater shortage of qualified building technicians for high-tech facilities.

I²SL and Laney College together developed a survey to gain the opinions and expertise of high tech facility managers, operators, and others as to whether specific types of training and a certification for high-tech facility professionals are warranted. Please take the survey at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/high-tech-O-M

We offer the following recommendations in the hope that they will help step up the pace of high-performance building reconstruction in the U.S. and Canada. We consulted many experts for advice, but these recommendations are solely the responsibility of the editors of Building Design+Construction. We welcome your comments. Please send them to Robert Cassidy, Editorial Director: rcassidy@sgcmail.com.