Past Meeting and Event Reviews
AFC Spring Conference 2012 @ Duke University last month: a resounding success!!!
By Mitchell Vann, Duke University School of Nursing
“This was the best conference I’ve been to in years…and I go to a lot of conferences.” …conference attendee.
“It provided a depth and breadth of topics, presenters and access that was truly amazing…Duke did a fantastic job!” …conference attendee.
“I’m going back with so many new ideas, my head is slammed full… I learned so much.” …conference attendee.
Beginning with a welcome address by our chapter President, Craig Youst, the AFC Spring conference was 3 days of presentations, speakers, panels and tours.
49 AFC and non-AFC members registered for the conference at Duke and all left with renewed energy, new ideas, new contacts, and a great appreciation for all we do as Facility Managers.
The AFC this year accomplished something not before done in AFC history – the bringing together of local chapter and council for a panel presentation, building tour and social. 39 chapter members registered for these events and heard about and saw the Duke Medicine Pavilion as well as learning about other construction projects at Duke Medicine. The weather was sunny and bright for the after-hours social at Tobacco Road Sports Café in Durham, where chapter and council met, mingled and made new contacts.
http://construction.dukemedicine.org/projects/duke-medicine-pavilion/
Thanks to the Greater Triangle Chapter of IFMA for their help and support for the AFC Spring Conference 2012 @ Duke University, April 25-27th.
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April Meeting Review
By Leslie Herndon, Greenscapes, Inc.
Tick, tick, tick….As timekeeper Rob monitored the game clock, the April meeting attendees had to make their case for the best current advances in facility management technologies and new ideas. Announcer Dan kept the game commentary running as each table defended their best idea. Solar installations, building envelope commissioning, interior wall systems, mobile workspaces, window films, roof restoration/renovation, and BAS system automation were just some of the ideas brought to the floor. Each team had to be on their game because the shot clock only had 45 seconds on it to defend your idea before Rob called time (with his very loud horn!) As the playoffs progressed, 3 tables emerged to battle it out in a 2 minute sudden death. At the end of the game, conversion of night cleaning to day cleaning and a new bird control system for commercial buildings emerged victorious! Congratulations to Teams 1 and 4! And a special thanks to Dan Williams and the rest of the programs committee for an inventive and informative meeting!
March’s Meeting Review
By Fabian Ramirez, Riley Life
Are you constantly looking for ways to improve your facility? Is improving indoor air quality, creating more flexible work space, improving thermal comfort and increased energy savings on your to do list? If so this month’s presentation, “Walking on Air” by Brian Vogel with Haworth, proved to be of value.
According to Brian, all the above improvements can be addressed with underfloor air distribution and access floor systems as opposed to traditional overhead air distribution and “pipe and wire” electrical, data and telecommunication systems (EDT systems). Through the use of architectural floor panels installed on pedestals above the structural floor, underfloor air systems create an underfloor plenum reducing the amount of space required for traditional ducted systems.
The Advantages:
- Over all cost per square ft for raised floors is less than conventional construction
- Reduced construction time
- 90% of ductwork is eliminated
- Ductwork that is used does not need to be insulated unlike overhead ductwork
- Chiller Efficiency – cools just as good as overhead system using 10 degree warmer air at supply and return resulting in lower costs
- Less static pressure needed resulting in less fan power consumption
- Greater flexibility to accomodate churn – vents, power and data can be altered with much less time and money
- Each work station can control the amount of conditioned air they get by adjusting vents closest to them
- LEED Credits
Currently almost 22% of new buildings or those being renovated are utilizing underfloor air distribution and access floor systems. This percentage is said to double in the next 3 to 5 years. Are you considering some big changes in your facility in the near future? Be sure to take a look at both underfloor systems and traditional air systems to find the right solution for your facility!
Mega Networking
By Mike Kriston, McDonald York
On February 22, 2011 The Greater Triangle Chapter of IFMA held their first Mega-Networking event to see the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Anaheim Ducks. 95 facility managers and their guests attended a pre-game buffet, raffle and networking session, and followed that up with seats in the same section of the RBC Center to catch the game. Despite the Hurricanes losing the game 3-2 in a shootout, all in attendance had a great time. A special thanks is in order to the Networking and Events committee, for putting together such a great event, and make sure to keep your eyes open for this event next year, because you do not want to miss it!
February Meeting Review
Submitted by Leslie Herndon, Greenscape Inc.
Julian Prosser, Assistant City Manager for the City of Raleigh, joined us for the monthly meeting at the Brier Creek Country Club. During the presentation, Julian touched on the many Renewable Energy Initiatives that the City has undertaken over the last few years. From the Convention Center street lights to hybrid and plug in vehicles. They have numerous project underway and are evaluating each one for sustainability and return on investment. Many of the projects involve business partners like CREE. Their relationship with CREE has resulted in the City of Raleigh becoming the 1st LED lighted City in the world and has resulted more locally in energy savings, reduced maintenance, and less vandalism due to the switch in many City building and parking decks to LED lights. The City is also undertaking these projects to examine existing codes and building standards, as well as streamlining the infrastructure process to ensure that they promote the use of sustainable technologies rather than discourage building owners and contractors. All in all, they believe that while they have realized many benefits from the technologies they have implemented, there are still many more to be discovered as they continue to learn and as the technology evolves.
January’s Monthly Meeting -
By Mike Kriston, McDonald York
To kick off the new year for the IFMA Triangle Chapter, we had a very exciting speaker at our January Meeting – Emily Pilloton, a Ted Global Speaker who has also appeared on The Colbert Report and is a published author.
Emily came to the IFMA Triangle Chapter to tell her story, as to how humanitarian design can positively impact Humanity, Habitats, Health and Happiness. Originally trained as an architect, she experienced an “Are you kidding me moment” when arguing over doorknobs one day, quit her job and started Project H design the next day.
Project H design became heavily involved in the public schools in Bertie County as they were in the midst of trying to improve student performance, and was given the opportunity to explore things from a complete different viewpoint. They initially started with the elementary schools building what they call a “Learning Landscape” – essentially a large square of sand outside with school bus tires buried in it. They created games that went along with these landscapes, which would teach basic skills, while allowing the children to be outside and “be kids”.
The lessons learned in these experiments developed into “Studio H” which is a year long high school program that sparks rural community development through real-world building projects. In these projects, students learn and develop critical thinking, creative design approaches, knowledge of core subjects, and people skills, all of which are necessary for future success. In the first year of the program(‘)s existence, the students built cornhole sets, highly innovative chicken coops, and finally a farmers market which now serves as the farmers market for Windsor, NC.
Emily left us all to consider what sort of social impacts we each have, regardless of our job titles. She challenged us that we should each be striving to make a difference in our communities through our work and our interactions with each other. She suggested that innovative and humanitarian design build in the real world can transform each of us and our communities into a better place.
Special thanks is due to the programs committee for such a great program and wonderful speaker who challenged each of us to make the world a better place!
December’s Monthly Meeting -
By Fabian Ramirez, Riley Life
December’s lunch presentation by Michael Schley, CEO and Founder of FM:Systems, delivered a wealth of knowledge regarding the benefits of using BIM for facility management.
Building Information Modeling or BIM, has great benefits in the planning, design and construction phases of a building. BIM serves as the repository for a building’s details/specs shared between engineers, architects, surveyors, contractors and subcontractors. BIM has the capability of displaying layouts in 3D and providing instant feedback on changes that save time and money by discovering problems long before the construction begins.
Once the building is constructed, the facility manager can easily access the information provided by BIM. The access to this data is no doubt, the biggest benefit for a facility manager. So much time and money is spent trying to aggregate all building information for maintenance purposes. Examples of such are documentation for air handlers, water heaters and even paint color codes for various walls.
Almost two-thirds of a 20+ year old building’s expenses are directly attributed to operating and maintenance. BIM helps reduce these statistics greatly. With BIM, all building information is electronic and easy to analyze. All information is also easily up-dateable. Additional BIM perks includes improved space management, sustainability analysis and change management.
Annual Appreciation event Writeup
By Mike Kriston, McDonald York
IFMA’s annual Member Appreciation Event was held on November 10th, 2011. Over 140 in attendance, the most ever for this event. The purpose of this night is to try to bring all members of IFMA together for fellowship and fun, and recognize excellence within the chapter. This year’s event was held at the Angus Barn Pavillion.
Special thanks to the Networking and events Committee is in order, as they did a phenomenal job in planning this year’s event. The relocation to the Angus Barn Pavillion was a big hit amongst the membership, and helped contribute to the festive feeling in the atmosphere.
This is a great event and a great reason to be an IFMA Triangle Chapter Member. Keep your eyes open in Q4 2012 for this event, as this is an event you do not want to miss!
Other Past Events
November 2011 – Monthly Meeting
