Consultative Council Recommendations Highlight
Five Key Building Industry Priorities
Report Featured at High-Performance Building Week Event

Yesterday, the National Institute of Building Sciences Consultative Council released its 2013 report, Moving Forward: Findings and Recommendations from the Consultative Council, during a briefing of the High Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition in celebration of High-Performance Building Week.

Each year, the Consultative Council prepares the report, as required by the Institute’s enabling legislation, which is then submitted as part of the Institute’s Annual Report to the President of the United States. The Council, which consists of organizations representing the nation’s building community, offers specific recommendations, implementable in the near term, which can serve as the basis for a national buildings policy. See the announcement.

Building Innovation 2015 Conference & Expo Coming in January:
Grab Your Sponsorship and Exhibitor Space Now!

There are nearly 70 opportunities up for grabs in support of Building Innovation 2015: The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference & Expo. This third annual event to be held January 12-15, 2015, in Washington, D.C., provides affordable sponsorships and exhibitor spaces to show your support for your industry and build awareness of your organization’s positive contributions to the building community. For as little as $500, your company can share the spotlight as a broad spectrum of industry experts come together to collaborate on Creating High-Performing Resilient Communities during the four-day event. More than 700 individuals attended the 2014 Conference, where sponsors and exhibitors were given substantial recognition through an Exhibit Hall, prominent signage and a full-color Conference Book. The 2015 Exhibit Hall will occupy the full atrium floor for easy access and visual presence by all attendees. We invite you to have your organization highlighted during the Conference & Expo. Find out more about sponsorship, exhibitor and advertising opportunities, download the Event Prospectus or reserve your space online. Visit the Conference website for more information on the event.

Nominations Wanted for Institute Board

The National Institute of Building Sciences Board Nominations Committee is currently seeking candidates to serve on the Institute’s Board of Directors. The Institute Board is comprised of 21 members. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to represent the public interest. The remaining 15 members are elected and can represent either public interest or industry voices. The Board representation includes architects, builders, building owners, building standards developers, consumers, contractors, educators, fire safety professionals, local agency officials, product manufacturers, professional engineers, state agency officials and others. However, the majority of board members are required to come from the public interest category.

The three-year terms begin in 2015. Nominations can be submitted for one or more candidates, but a separate nomination form must be completed for each. In preparing the election ballot, the Board Nominations Committee will give equal consideration to all submissions, whether single or multiple nominations are received. Although membership in the Institute is not a requirement for nomination or election, it is encouraged. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, July 18. Download the nomination form.

Call for Honor, Member Award Nominees

The National Institute of Building Sciences Awards Committee is currently accepting nominations for the 2014 Institute Honor and Member Awards. Each year, the Institute recognizes individuals or organizations that have made an exceptional contribution to the nation and the building community. Members of the building community will honor the recipients of this year’s awards during the 2015 Annual Awards Banquet on Wednesday, January 14, 2015. The ceremony will take place as part of Building Innovation 2015: The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo, to be held January 12-15, in Washington, D.C. Download the nomination forms: Member Award or Honor Award. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, July 18.

New Approach to Energy Code Compliance Clears Major Hurdle
Outcome-based path would focus on a building’s energy performance during operation

Owners and design teams working toward high energy performance buildings have a potential new ally in the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). The development committee reviewing new proposals for enhancing the IgCC voted 8-5 on May 1 to approve an Institute proposal that would add a first-ever outcome-based compliance path in a model energy code.

Building energy codes by nature are prescriptive, but architects and engineers are finding that prescriptive requirements can limit their ability to use integrated systems and innovative technologies that are necessary to lower a building’s energy needs. The outcome-based compliance path would solve that problem, setting targets for the actual energy use of a building and determining compliance through the building’s achievement of that target once in operation. Unlike existing pathways to address energy use—prescriptive or modeled performance options—the outcome-based pathway allows the design team the greatest flexibility and relies on measured energy-use data that can help communities and building owners meet their energy and carbon emissions reduction goals. Read the release.

First Workshops on Cybersecurity of Building Control Systems
One Week Away; New Dates Added

It’s not too late to sign up for the first Cybersecuring Building Control Systems Workshops to learn best practice techniques to better protect your facilities. The nation’s buildings are increasingly relying on building control systems (otherwise known as operational technology) that are Internet-enabled. These systems provide critical services that allow a building to meet the functional and operational needs of building occupants, but they can also be easy targets for hackers and people with malicious intent. The National Institute of Building Sciences is sponsoring these two workshops to address this critical topic.

CEOs Announce Major Commitment
to Promote Resilient Planning and Building Materials

For the first time, leaders of America’s design and construction industry, along with building owners and operators, have agreed to promote resilience in planning, building materials, design, construction and operational techniques as the solution to making the nation’s aging infrastructure more safe and secure.

Last Wednesday, chief executive officers (CEOs) of almost two-dozen leading design and construction industry associations—with a combined membership of more than 750,000 professionals who are responsible for generating almost $1 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP)—used the occasion of Building Safety Month to issue a joint statement on resilience. The Alliance for a Resilient Tomorrow unveiled its statement at a press conference at the National Building Museum, where a major exhibition, Designing for Disaster, presenting design and building solutions for disaster mitigation, opened May 11. Learn more about the announcement. Read the statement on resilience.

This Week, May 19-23, Celebrates High-Performance Building Week

International Code Council President Steve Jones (left) and Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims (right) present National Institute of Building Sciences Chairman James “Tim” Ryan (second from right) and President Henry L. Green a plaque in honor of the Institute’s 40th Anniversary. The Institute and High Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition hosted a reception Tuesday to celebrate High-Performance Building Week and highlight the Institute’s anniversary celebration.

The High Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition (HPBCCC) highlighted the importance of high-performance buildings during the fifth annual High-Performance Building Week, celebrated this week, from May 19 to 23. This year’s activities included a reception honoring the 40th Anniversary of the National Institute of Building Sciences on Tuesday, May 20; the EE Global Conference sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy on Tuesday and Wednesday; a reception celebrating Building Safety Month organized by the International Code Council on May 21; a tour of a Passive House under construction also on May 21; and the release of the Institute’s 2013 Consultative Council Report at a Congressional Briefing on May 22. Get the details on all these events.

BEST4 Conference Highlights Latest Building Enclosure
Research and Practice

A broad spectrum of the industry’s most respected practitioners, researchers and educators have been tapped to serve as speakers for the Building Enclosure Science and Technology (BEST4) Conference, to be held April 13 – 15, 2015, in Kansas City. Some 60 experts will bring you the latest findings in building enclosure research, design and operations. Under the umbrella theme of Performance-Driven Architectural Design, 22 sessions in two concurrent tracks over three days will allow you to tailor your BEST4 participation to BEST suit your interests and professional needs. Session topics currently being fine-tuned include “The Next Generation of Integrated Building Enclosure,” “Commissioning of the Building Envelope in Practice” and “High-Performance, Ecological Building Envelopes.” The on-site exhibition held during BEST4 will present the latest building enclosure products and services offered by conference exhibitors and sponsors. Find out about opportunities to sponsor and exhibit including the newly added Business Card sponsorship. View the preliminary program schedule. Stay up to date on all Conference news and information by visiting www.thebestconference.org.

Institute Releases New Performance-Based Design Guide
Free Tool Available to the Public via the WBDG

Tuesday, the National Institute of Building Sciences released the first broad-reaching, performance-based standard for use by facility owners and building industry professionals. The National Performance-Based Design Guide (NPBDG) Beta Version 0.5 is a free, online tool, available for reference and public comment through the WBDG Whole Building Design Guide®. In recent years, building owners have been raising their expectations and increasing performance demands for buildings. The challenge, until now, has been that building owners have not had a consistent and quantifiable way to communicate such goals to the team of professionals that design, build and operate their properties. The NPBDG, which uses four levels of performance, allows the building owner to work with the design team to select the preferred level to design the building.

Vision Task Force Foretells How Projects Will Be Built in 2021

A task force of the National Institute of Building Sciences buildingSMART Alliance™ launched a new website last week to offer readers a glimpse into the not-too-distant future of the building industry.

The Alliance is developer of the nation’s building information modeling (BIM) standard, the National BIM Standard – United States® (NBIMS-US™). Its NBIMS-US Planning Committee formed the NBIMS-US™ 2021 Vision Task Force (VTF) last year to focus on defining, forecasting and, in some cases, guessing at the future of the building industry to gain insight into what the NBIMS-US™ itself will need to be to support that future.

The website offers the reader the opportunity to download a story in two formats. Major findings among the VTF’s essays and other research used to develop the story fall into six broad categories: Sustainability; Facility Management and Operations; Data, Interoperability and Integration; Building Codes, Specifications and Standards; Technology; and Processes, Efficiency and Collaboration. All of the categories are expanded on in the summary within the publications. Take a glimpse into the future. Visit the 2021 Vision Task Force website.

“The Introduction to COBie” Course Provides Overview of the Standard

The National Institute of Building Sciences buildingSMART alliance has an online course focused on the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) that is perfect for planners, architects, engineers, construction contractors, sub-contractors, facility operators, maintainers and owners around the world to learn the benefits of this valuable new standard.