Time’s Running Out on Savings: Register before October 31

Your chance to save on registration to attend Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Second Annual Conference & Expo, to be held January 6-10, 2014, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C., ends Thursday, October 31.

Why pay full price? Save and enjoy five activity-packed days as the Institute brings together a broad spectrum of industry professionals to explore Advancing Life-Cycle Performance and kicks-off a year-long celebration of the Institute’s 40th Anniversary. Building Innovation 2014 will feature symposia focusing on different aspects of the Conference theme, including a Plenary Symposium that will bring together the entire audience for industry-wide collaboration. View the schedule of events. Register now and save.

Mitchell Named IFMA Fellow

IFMA Chairman Jon Sellers (left) and IFMA President/CEO Tony Keane (right), welcome Tom Mitchell to the 2013 class of IFMA Fellows.

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) recognized National Institute of Building Sciences Board Member Thomas L. Mitchell Jr., CFM, CFMJ, as a member of its 2013 class of IFMA Fellows. Being named an IFMA Fellow is the highest honor the association can bestow on a member. The managing director for Facilities & Asset Management Consulting Services at Booz Allen Hamilton, Mitchell joined IFMA in 1998. He has served on IFMA’s Board of Directors, including as chair from 2009-2010. He has served on the Professional Development Committee and as the Scholarship Committee chair and is a member of the San Antonio Chapter of IFMA. Mitchell and three other IFMA members received the honor during IFMA’s annual Awards of Excellence banquet, held Friday, Oct. 4, in Philadelphia, Pa. Learn more about the 2013 IFMA Fellows.

Green Receives ICC’s Prestigious Bobby J. Fowler Award

Institute President Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, addresses the audience upon accepting the International Code Council’s prestigious Bobby J. Fowler Award.

National Institute Building Sciences President Henry L. Green, Hon. AIA, received the International Code Council (ICC)’s most prestigious award, the Bobby J. Fowler Award, at a ceremony held earlier this month in Atlantic City, N.J. The award, which honors the memory of the first chairman of the International Code Council Board of Directors, is presented to an individual whose contributions to the building safety industry advance the Code Council’s goals to achieve a safer built environment. Particular emphasis is placed on the recipient’s focus beyond local or regional concerns to issues and activities that span the globe.

Webinar Highlights Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines

Industry stakeholders interested in learning about the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines can sign up for an informational webinar to be held November 7, 2013, from 3:00 – 4:30 pm EST. The National Institute of Building Sciences and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working to develop voluntary national guidelines to improve the quality and consistency of commercial building workforce credentials. The Institute established the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council to lead Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines development.

To learn more about the Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines and the Commercial Workforce Credentialing Council, industry professionals are encouraged to attend the informational webinar hosted by DOE, which includes a live question and answer period following the presentation. Space is limited. Register now.

U.S. Standards Community Celebrates World Standards Day 2013
Institute to Serve as 2014 Administering Organization

Henry L. Green invites participants to the 2014 U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day. The National Institute of Building Sciences, in honor of its 40th anniversary, will serve as the administering organization of the 2014 event.

Approximately 250 members of the standards and conformity assessment community gathered in Washington, D.C., October 3 for the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day (WSD) 2013. The exhibition, reception and dinner marking the occasion focused on the theme Standards for a World at Work and Play. The evening’s festivities included the presentation of the prestigious Ronald H. Brown Standards Leadership Award to Catherine (Kitty) H. Pilarz, senior director of product safety for Mattel/Fisher-Price. The first place prize for the WSD paper competition went to Ann Brigida of InfoComm International.

Symposium to Examine Mitigation, Life-Cycle Performance in Communities

How can communities improve resilience and prepare for potential disasters? Participate in the Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) Symposium: Life-Cycle Performance: Moving Forward to More Resilient Communities and engage with the experts on ways to increase community involvement for resilience and potential disaster preparedness. The MMC Symposium will be held Thursday, January 7, 8:00 am – 5:15 pm, as part of Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo. Continue the story.

BSSC Provisions Update Committee Assesses Ballot D

The Provisions Update Committee (PUC) of the Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) met in Burlingame, Calif., on September 24-25 to continue its work on development of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)’s 2014 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions. In the five-year development cycle, there are six ballots, A through F, for which members of the PUC develop and assess proposals that will form the three parts of the Provisions. The three parts include: proposed changes to ASCE 7-10 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures (Part 1), changes to the ASCE 7-10 Commentary (Part 2), and resource papers on special topic in seismic design (Part 3). See what PUC addressed at the September meeting.

SBIC Appoints Jury for 2013 Beyond Green™ Awards
Award Entries Due by November 1

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) has appointed: Sam Brooks, Ann Edminster and George Northcroft to serve as the jury for the 2013 Beyond Green™ High-Performance Building Awards. The jury is responsible for selecting those buildings, initiatives, products, projects and innovations that best exemplify the eight design objectives of high performance from all of the entries submitted to SBIC by the November 1 deadline. Learn more about the jury members. Submit an entry.

SBIC Symposium Goes Beyond Green™,
Looks at High-Performance Homes

How do you reach and maintain high performance levels in buildings? Meeting the criteria for low-energy usage and the efficient use of resources required to build and maintain high-performance in buildings—especially residential structures—can be confusing. The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) Symposium – Beyond Green™: Guidance for Life-Cycle Performance, will address the confusing criteria and clarify the priorities for consideration when building and maintaining high-performance homes and other structures. The SBIC Symposium, to be held Wednesday, January 8, 8:00 am -11:45 am, is part of Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo. Continue the story.

LVDC Members Work to Improve Standards for Vision

ASHRAE recently released ASHRAE 90.1-2013, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, which contains a number of revisions to its Lighting Power Density (LPD) requirements that could make things a little brighter and, therefore, life a little better for those residing in or visiting facilities for people who are visually impaired. At the same time, the Institute’s Low Vision Design Committee (LVDC) launched its technical review phase for the NIBS Design Guideline for the Visual Environment. This new guidance was created to inform the regulatory and design communities about the challenges experienced by low vision populations and to provide specific design recommendations regarding the visual environment in order to afford equal access to all facilities through universal design principles. Read more.

Symposium to Explore Creating Flexible Environments for
People with Low Vision

Attend the Low Vision Design Committee (LVDC) Symposium: Creating Flexible Environments for People with Low Vision, to explore how people with low vision interact with their environments; gain insight into the most common roadblocks people with low vision encounter; and learn the best practices in design that can be used to clear their way. The LVDC Symposium will be held Thursday, January 9, 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm, as part of Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo. View the list of topics and speakers.

Symposium Exposes the Value of Commissioning as a
Building Owner’s Performance Tool

In recent years, building owners have grown increasingly interested in using building commissioning, the process of verifying building performance and methods, to assure that a building’s design intent is met during and after construction. Commissioning is a valuable tool to help owners optimize a building’s performance, but confusion abounds as to what commissioning is, who is qualified to perform it and the different types of commissioning agents. The Commissioning Symposium: Optimizing Performance through Commissioning, to be held Thursday, January 9, 8:30 am – 11:45 am, as part of Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo, aims to clear up some of that confusion by providing an introduction to the commissioning process. Read the release.

Four BEST Posters to be Featured at BEST4
Submit Your Abstract by December 10, 2013

The fourth triennial Building Enclosure Science and Technology Conference (BEST4) will take place in 2015 where Science meets Design™ and attendees will concentrate on Performance Driven Architectural Design. For BEST4, the National Institute of Building Sciences Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) is calling on participants to contribute to the poster session in support of the various conference topics. All BEST4 participants, as well as university students, are invited to submit a poster for a Conference presentation. During BEST4, hosted by the Kansas City Building Enclosure Council, recognition will be given to four selected BEST4 poster designs. To submit your poster design, download, complete and submit the poster abstract form by December 10, 2013. Find out more about BEST4 and the Conference Topics. Download the Call for Posters.

Symposium Delves into Designing the Building Enclosure for the
Full Life Cycle

Gain insight into the latest technologies for improving performance of the building envelope at the Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) Symposium: Design, Efficiency and Recycling for the Building Enclosure Life Cycle. The BETEC Symposium will be held Thursday, January 9, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, as part of Building Innovation 2014—The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo. Learn more about the BETEC Symposium.

Share Your Perspective on the Value of the NBIMS-US™
Take the NBIMS-US™ Survey

The Planning Committee for the nation’s building information modeling (BIM) standard is conducting a survey to obtain more information about the building industry’s use and perceived value of the National BIM Standard – United States® (NBIMS-US™). The survey is meant to capture information about the awareness, understanding and implementation of the NBIMS-US™ and find out what industry professionals think should be addressed in future versions of the standard. The survey, which is open until November 15, consists of 15 multiple-choice questions and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Take the survey now.

NCS Project Committee, Steering Committee
Meet to Discuss Ballot Items

The developers of the nation’s computer-aided design (CAD) standard, United States National CAD Standard™ (NCS), met this week to discuss the upcoming November/December NCS ballot vote to amend NCS Version 5. The NCS Project Committee (NCS PC) and Steering Committee (NCS SC) met October 28-29. All Project Committee members were invited to join the virtual meeting to discuss the ballot items vetted and approved by the standing NCS Task Teams, which will be submitted for a vote of the committee. See the agenda of what was discussed.