Federal Facilities Beyond The 1990s Ensuring Quality In An Era Of Limited Resources

The federal government has invested more than $300 billion in 500,000 buildings and other facilities worldwide to support the provision of government services. Evidence is mounting that the physical condition, functionality, and quality of federal facilities are deteriorating. Stewardship of Federal Facilities identifies factors and processes contributing to this deterioration and recommends a framework of methods, practices, and strategies to foster accountability for the stewardship of federal facilities and to allocate resources for their maintenance and repair.

The optimal approach to design, build, operate, and maintainbuildings With this strategic guide to building information modeling(BIM), you’ll learn how to implement this new technology aspart of a comprehensive systems approach to the design,construction, management, operation, maintenance, and use ofbuildings. The authors, among the leading experts andpioneers in BIM, show you how BIM supports more streamlined,integrated, and efficient business processes throughout the lifecycle of buildings, from their initial conception through theireventual retirement or reuse. The result is better qualitybuildings, lower construction and operating costs, shorter projectturnaround times, and a higher quality of building information tosupport better business decisions. Moreover, they set forth aplan for incorporating BIM into every organization’s existingworkflows, enabling you to take full advantage of all the benefitsthat BIM offers. Everything you need to implement a BIM approach is setforth in detail, including: The business case for BIM, demonstrating how it can improvecollaboration, facilitate better design and construction, optimizeworkflow, and help reduce risk Guidance for meeting the challenges of BIM such as anentrenched business culture, the proliferation of BIM tools, andthe uneven rates of BIM adoption The “big picture” view showing how yourorganization can work with business partners and fit into thebuilding life cycle in a BIM-enabled industry Throughout the book, sample documents and figures help youbetter understand the principles of BIM and how it works inpractice. In addition, first-hand accounts show you exactlyhow adopters of BIM have gained a competitive edge. Architects, engineers, constructors, building owners, andfacility managers can turn to this book to realize the fullpotential of BIM and radically improve the way buildings aredesigned, built, operated, and maintained.

The design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings is evolving in response to ever-increasing knowledge about the impact of indoor environments on people and the impact of buildings on the environment. Research has shown that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health, safety, and productivity of the people who occupy them. Buildings are also resource intensive, accounting for 40 percent of primary energy use in the United States, 12 percent of water consumption, and 60 percent of all non-industrial waste. The processes for producing electricity at power plants and delivering it for use in buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. federal government manages approximately 429,000 buildings of many types with a total square footage of 3.34 billion worldwide, of which about 80 percent is owned space. More than 30 individual departments and agencies are responsible for managing these buildings. The characteristics of each agency's portfolio of facilities are determined by its mission and its programs. In 2010, GSA's Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings asked the National Academies to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to conduct a public workshop and prepare a report that identified strategies and approaches for achieving a range of objectives associated with high-performance green federal buildings. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities identifies examples of important initiatives taking place and available resources. The report explores how these examples could be used to help make sustainability the preferred choice at all levels of decision making. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities can serve as a valuable guide federal agencies with differing missions, types of facilities, and operating procedures.