CREJ

Page 4 — Property Management Quarterly — January 2020 www.crej.com H ave you heard the building codes news from the city of Denver? Denver will soon join the city of Fort Collins (which introduced air-tight- ness testing into its code in 2014) as a Colorado building jurisdiction that requires air-tightness testing of all new construction and major renova- tion projects. This means that when the city adopts the 2018 IECC energy code (scheduled to go into effect May 1) commercial and multifamily build- ings are joining residential projects in requiring “blower door” testing to verify code compliance. The energy code to be adopted by the city also reinforces the standing requirement for water intrusion testing. An exam- ple of this is the 501.2 test, which requires spraying water at 30 pounds per square inch for at least one min- ute on windows and doors in com- mercial buildings under construction to identify leakage.While the water intrusion standard has been in the Denver building code, the city now plans to enforce it more stringently beginning in May. This change came after nearly six months of meet- ings to review and amend the 2018 IECC and Alterna- tive Green Build- ing codes. I had the privilege of serving as one of 15 members of the 2018 IECC Amendments and Review committee and the Alternative Green Building committee where these revi- sions were made. The committees comprised city staff, including chief building official Scott Prisco, builders, architects, a developer and me as the engineering/energy-efficiency consul- tant. Based on statements from city staff, this change to the building code is motivated by attrac- tive economics for build- ing owners and the city as a whole. In our meetings, there were conversations as to how these changes to the building code will impact the capitalization rate. The developer representative, as well as city staff, empha- sized the new energy code, including the air-tightness requirement, will help drive down the cap rate for own- ers of commercial buildings and thus increasing prop- erty cash flow. In addition to helping the cash flow for individual projects, the city has stated on its Energize Den- ver website that, “… improving building energy efficiency [is a means] to protect Denver’s quality of life and strengthen the economy. Investing an esti- mated $340 million in improv- ing building energy efficiency could result in 4,000 local jobs and $1.3 billion in energy sav- ings over 10 years. The energy used in large buildings results in 57 percent of Denver’s harm- ful greenhouse gas emissions.” Energy-efficiency – including air tightness – is a significant means of reducing these emis- sions. A 2014 study by the National Institute of Standards andTechnology of more than 400 commercial build- ings, 70 of which were built between 2004 and 2014, revealed that 71% of the buildings were leakier than the International Energy Conservation Code standard of less than/or equal to 0.4 cubic feet per minute per square foot of conditioned surface area at 75 Pascals.This resulted in an average of 55%more natural gas consumption and 28%more electricity consump- tion in these buildings in cool climates (Minneapolis and St. Louis) similar to Denver. An additionally remarkable part of this data is that the projects built since 2004 were “required” to meet the IECC energy code air-tightness require- ments, but in the case of the buildings in the study, were not required to be blower door tested.They only were required to have included a statement of intent to meet air-tightness require- ments in the architectural plans for their buildings. Using the numbers above, a typical 40,000-sf office building in Denver would see between $3,000 to $3,500 per year saved in utility bill costs from the improved air-tightness after fixing issues identified during blower door testing. There are also additional benefits from passing, or exceeding, code air- tightness: • Comfort – Enhanced thermal comfort, resulting in fewer hot/cold calls. • Quieter – Reduced noise from out- side (because sound travels on air). • Productivity – Employee’s perfor- mance and their overall enjoyment of being in the office increases because it is not hot, cold or too noisy. In conclusion, Denver, Fort Col- lins and other building jurisdictions across Colorado are moving forward to require that builders not only plan more air-tight buildings, but that these important improvements must be proven via blower door testing. V Paul Kriescher Vice president, PCD Engineering Progressively managing the construction so you can manage your property Tenant Improvements, Capital Improvements, Common Area Renovations, Spec Suites andWhite Boxes Expedited Budgets, Competitive Pricing, Reliable Team, QualityWorkmanship 720.328.0032 pmgcolorado.com info@pmgcolorado.com 2875W. Oxford Ave #1 Englewood, CO 80110 Regulatory Air-tightness testing requirement comes to Denver Christ the King Lutheran Church Heat being absorbed on a summer's day – decreasing comfort and increasing energy costs. Christ the King Lutheran Church Single-pane windows in a sanctuary.