All commercial building enclosure designs are not created equal. All too often, critical factors like airflow, insulation, vapor barriers, condensation, longevity, construction cost, and time frame are not given proper consideration. This results in an underperforming structure, an unhappy client, and a blow to the reputation—and bottom line—of those involved in the project. A good commercial building enclosure design carefully analyzes numerous factors and ensures that they come together harmoniously in a final product that will perform well over a long period of time. Architects must understand the the factors that contribute to a good commercial building enclosure in order to design high-quality products that will stand out in the RFP process and enable efficient and cost-effective construction. Contractors must be able to identify design elements that should be modified or may require an RFI and manage the construction process to protect the integrity of the enclosure and minimize their own risk.
If you’re an architect who needs to stay at the cutting edge of commercial building science or a contractor who needs to perform quality checks and manage commercial construction projects properly, Terry Brennan’s ten-week course, “Commercial Building Enclosures That Work” is one that you’ll wish you had taken before your last project. The course is capped at 50 students and we provide 30 substantial discounts for professionals that sign up early.
A Terry Brennan workshop is a rite of passage. Terry was the well-deserving inaugural recipient of and the inspiration for NESEA’s Professional Leadership Award. Terry has extensive experience studying all the factors that make or break commercial building enclosures. He is on the editorial boards of Environmental Building News and Heating Piping and Air Conditioning Magazine. He currently chairs the U.S.A.C.E committee developing new air leakage protocols. Past work includes consulting on a research project to restore three homes in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, teaching healthy housing courses for the National Center for Healthy Housing and working on a research project to study unplanned airflows in commercial buildings in New York State. He is a member of ASHRAE 62.2 Ventilation and Air Quality Committee and served as consultant to the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Dampness and Health in Buildings.
This course is an opportunity to study under Terry—to ask him questions and become his pupil for a full ten-week semester. He’ll teach you to diagnose and fix problems with commercial buildings using data and current best practices. Successful students will complete a design for a commercial building enclosure.
Architects who complete the course will learn:
- Best practices for material selection, layers, and detailing, for designing an air-tight, highly-insulated, cost-effective, and buildable structure.
- How to create drawings, write RFPs, and specify QA processes so designs can be implemented with minimal confusion.
- How to specify a building structure that will eliminate change orders from general contractors.
- How to specify enclosure details so the design is done right the first time, avoiding costly mistakes and angry customers.
- The most up to date code on commercial building enclosures.
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How to respond to client RFPs to stand out from the competition
- How to apply all of the lessons above for all types of buildings and including new construction and retrofit applications.
Contractors who take the course will learn:
- How to identify red flags in a design that will require an RFI
- Best practices for writing a RFI to reduce risk
- How to review design and specifics of insulation, air barriers, vapor barriers, dealing with condensation
- How to manage moisture and mold during construction
- How to use construction documents to maximize project quality and efficiency
Click here to sign up for Terry Brennan’s ten-week course, “Commercial Building Enclosures That Work”
