Has there been a particular Cx service that ’ s been in high demand over the last couple of years ?
DH : There ’ s always a high demand for LEED Cx . Whether or not the owner actually wants to go for LEED Certification ( Silver , Gold , Platinum ), they all want that standard . Many municipalities are now requiring LEED . For example , the City of Los Angeles requires LEED Silver at a minimum , which means that all the work done at LAX has to meet LEED Silver requirements .
What else can you tell us about commissioning at LAX ?
DH : We currently have a direct contract with American Airlines for the Terminal 4 modernization project . Usually , we ’ d have a contract through a project management organization , but we ’ re contracted directly with the airline this time . And , of course , we still have to adhere to all Los Angeles World Airports ( LAWA ) requirements . We kind of helped LAWA write their Cx standards with what we ’ ve done at LAX in the past . Our first job at LAX was Terminal 5 for Delta . Since then , we ’ ve worked on every terminal at LAX , so it ’ s been quite an adventure out there .
How has COVID affected building commissioning ?
DH : It really hasn ’ t affected us much . Even before COVID hit , commissioning was already partially remote . We all had tablets and workstations in our homes and worked out of various offices . After the pandemic , we didn ’ t come in anymore and see each other in person , but we communicated through MS teams and Zoom . We continued to collaborate at a high level , using regular online meetings to coordinate and update each other . We were lucky because we were already set up for remote work , and the transition to it full-time was effortless .
Can you speak about new or upcoming trends in commissioning ?
DH : When you ’ re talking about the commissioning profession , there are people who are trying to move it in different directions . Some want to move it to where Cx providers become code officials , where they become authorities having jurisdiction . I ’ m not an advocate of that . I ’ m also not an advocate of requiring all Cx providers to be PE ’ s , which is another movement out there . From what I ’ m seeing , I think that all Cx providers will have to obtain certifications to be a provider eventually . Which is something that we ’ re ready for because we support a robust training policy where we ensure that all of P2S Cx commissioning providers obtain certification . We probably have the most certified team in the industry , certainly within California and I think even within the United States .
Another trend you ’ ll see within P2S Cx is that we are moving into other parts of the U . S . and into the international market next year . We ’ ll have a P2S Cx office in Saudi Arabia by February , and we ’ ll also have a more significant presence on the east coast of the U . S . as well .
What more can you tell us about your expansion into the middle east ?
DH : We have an individual moving over there to head our middle east group . Initially , the team in Saudi Arabia will be a studio , and then we anticipate them becoming a full group . Our local partner firm will make space for us in their corporate headquarters , and from there , we ’ ll train and hire locally . We ’ re also looking at hiring individuals from the region who are pursuing degrees in the United States . We ’ d help train them and then send them home to work at P2S Cx offices in KSA .
When it comes to visiting job sites , we follow the appropriate safety protocol . One of the things required of commissioning providers when they arrive at a job site is to go through the site-specific safety plan orientation . We must sign off with the contractor that we ’ ve attended it , and then we are required to follow all of their protocols . With COVID , there were some increased protocols , which we followed , and we ’ ve never had an issue . Onsite , we already wore PPE . The only difference with COVID is that we put on a mask all the time . Before COVID , we sometimes wore masks on site because of the particulate matter levels . We already had N95 masks onhand , which was also fortunate for us .
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Issue 04 / 2021