Pro-Active Risk Management for Building Enclosures

Summary

The Building Enclosure has a greater impact on the life-cycle performance of a building than any other element. The ever increasing complexity of building enclosure architecture, combined with increased insulation and air tightness requirements, the relentless pursuit of green building rating points, limited budgets and compressed schedules has created a perfect storm that threatens to engulf even the most skilled Architects.

This presentation will discuss strategies for pro-active risk management as related to the building enclosure. Case Studies of existing buildings will be used to demonstrate common issues, and a methodology will be presented for pro-actively managing the risks by getting things right the first time around.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the building science fundamentals of rainwater management, vapor diffusion and air leakage control.
• Understand the use of of hygrothermal evaluation of building enclosure assemblies in developing climate appropriate enclosure assemblies.
• Review case studies and understand how small oversights can lead to large failures
• Learn how to evaluate the continuity and detailing of building enclosure control layers
• Review key risk management steps from design through construction

About Our Presenter

Chris Norris, P.E. is a Principle at Walter P Moore & Associates who specializes in the area of Building Enclosure consulting. He has more than 17 years of experience in the building enclosure field including diagnosis and retrofit of existing buildings, consulting for new construction projects, and expert consultation for litigation projects.  His experience includes a wide range of building types from low-rise wood frame structures to 50-story skyscrapers. His experience includes healthcare, commercial office, military, hospitality, institutional, and multi-family projects.