Facilities Managers: Transparency and Accountability with Remote HVAC Monitoring Services

Essential building services are incredibly complex and require a wide variety of contractors and sub-contractors to ensure buildings are operating and performing to the highest standards. 

When things go wrong, FMs often end up bearing the brunt – and the cost – of putting things right, even though the cause of the problem occurred prior to handover.

What can go wrong?

We often see FMs left with faulty systems that have gone through handover without any red flags, or where tenants have caused issues that end up being blamed on facilities managers.

In one example, we had a building where tenant issues – un-called for interventions and a lack of maintenance – led to £300,000 worth of remediation work. Without real-time monitoring, the cause of these problems would have been hard to pinpoint, and the costs could have been footed by the building operator.

How can FMs improve transparency and accountability?

As an incoming FM, you need to know as much as possible about the building services systems.

The only way to do this is through 24/7 monitoring – relying on old-school methods of checking water condition, such as sampling, is simply not good enough to mitigate against the potential cost of HVAC breakdown.

In the example above, data from the monitoring system provided a clear path to accountability and the costs were rightly passed onto the tenants.  At a cost of £2,500 annually over a three-year period, the monitoring technology proved a worthy investment.

What action can FMs take?

Don’t play the blame game – Guardian Water Treatment can provide remote HVAC monitoring services at any phase of a building’s life:

Pre-commission cleaning: Remote corrosion monitoring technology can be used during construction and pre-commission cleaning phases to ensure the constant policing of water during fit-out.

Our innovative approach, BG29i, speeds up the PPC process, combats pipe degradation and reduces uncertainty at handover.

HVAC Health Check:  When you take on responsibility for a new part of a building you want to be sure that the system you’re inheriting is working as it should, with no potential glitches.

We can provide a one-off ‘health-check’, with monitoring technology installed onsite for a fixed period – anywhere from two weeks to several months.  FMs benefit from instantaneous access to critical data, giving them a true picture of the condition of their system after handover

Ongoing maintenance: Throughout a building’s life, remote monitoring technology provides real-time alerts to maintenance teams when significant changes occur, stopping future problems before they start.  Changes in system condition can be attributed to planned or unplanned events and action taken to swiftly rectify the situation.

Out of sight should not be out of mind!

Our alternative approach to closed-circuit HVAC system management uses the latest continuous monitoring technology and water treatment techniques to put FMs back in control and provide a greater understanding of closed-circuit water systems and the corrosion process over time.

The value of real-time data is huge – ensuring reputations stay intact, businesses keep running, and bucks are only passed if there is evidence.

Through increased accountability and transparency, FMs have a true picture of what’s really going on, leading to better working practices and better working buildings.

Do you want to increase the transparency and accountability of your building services? 

Get in touch with our team of experts to discuss your requirements.