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Maintaining Performance Long After Installation

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In the commercial glass industry, we put a lot of stock in qualifying the performance capabilities of our products. It is, after all, increasingly important. Codes are becoming stricter, demanding higher and higher thermal performance targets for commercial glass. Our industry has also concerned itself with winning the “battle for the wall” by delivering that thermal performance while simultaneously offering occupancy benefits such as views, daylighting and more. We’ve done all of this in part by working with code committees to demonstrate glass’s ability to meet desirable performance targets in large-format glazing and curtainwall applications. We’ve also done it by utilizing proven technologies like warm edge spacer systems, low-E coatings, new kinds of framing, and more.

After all, the stakes of high performance are increasingly important. I wrote a few months ago about how buildings in New York will be required to cut their emissions by 40 percent by 2030, with certain progress required by 2024. That’s just three short years, and I’m expecting to see an uptick in window and curtainwall retrofit projects in the area as owners pursue these stringent performance targets. Owners in the city will face fines if buildings don’t meet the criteria; those fines on their own may justify the cost of these kinds of improvements.

This got me thinking—there’s a lot we do in our manufacturing facilities to certify performance. But what happens once those units and systems are installed? And what can we be doing to ensure that installation happens properly?

Proper installation is critical to commercial glass’s ability to perform as designed in the field, particularly in retrofit applications where the glass must be seamlessly incorporated into an older or even historic structure. It’s worth remembering here that the ongoing labor shortage in our industry has impacted the glazing community as much as it’s hit our plants. If a glazing crew lacks the right training or knowledge to do the job effectively, the glass’s performance could be compromised. What’s more, installation difficulties can mean a job takes longer than intended. Neither of these outcomes are good for the building owners who just invested their money for top-tier performance, or for the reputation of our industry.

While there is no substitute for good training and glazier certification, one thing fabricators can do is work to ensure that our commercial glass and window products are simple and intuitive to install, whether it’s for retrofit or new construction jobs. I’m a believer in eliminating complexity from any process. Fabricators have the opportunity to do this by adopting progressive technologies that make simplicity possible, and anything we can do to make the installers’ job easier is beneficial in today’s marketplace. If we can help eliminate complexities from our systems, we can help eliminate the opportunities for installation errors to occur. These kinds of design considerations should be weighed along with everything else when creating high-performance commercial glass, including thermal performance and long-term durability.

High performance products that can offer a simplified assembly and installation processes, combined with a continued emphasis on the importance of good installation practices, will be necessary to hit stringent new code targets. All of our industry’s stakeholders have a role to play in ensuring our collective success.

Questions or comments? Contact me directly at Joe.Erb@Quanex.com.

 

Getting the Right Information Into the Right Hands

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It can be difficult to get a good sense of a place without physically being there. Just ask the architecture community, who—like all of us—have been limited in their ability to do their jobs in-person throughout the pandemic.

And architects, more than most, tend to be a visual and tactile bunch. Feel, texture, space, acoustics and even aesthetics are difficult to get a sense of through a Zoom meeting.

It’s a conundrum the industry has been grappling with for more than a year. The research group AIM looked into this late last year, asking an important question: “How does the pandemic—and its consequences—impact architects and the means by which they obtain product information they so readily depend on for their specifications?”

According to AIM’s research, a whopping 81% of participating architects, interior designers, facility managers and engineers say that the pandemic has changed the way they seek new product information. Per AIM:

Once the pandemic began, the in-person aspect was eliminated (35% no longer have in-person visits and lunch-n-learns), which seems to be directly replaced with virtual meetings (34%). However, the aspect of getting product information online remains strong (25%).

The AIM study further emphasizes the shift from in-person to virtual/online. Just look at … the increase in online CEU attendance pre- to post-COVID (30% to 73%) or the dramatic decrease in office CEU Meet & Greets pre-COVID to post-COVID (77% to 11%). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, architects are using more online resources, phone calls and email to get product information. These results stress the importance of providing product information on websites (a 15% increase) and a dramatic rise of online presentations (43% increase).

The implications for the commercial glass industry here are important. When drawing up specifications, architects rely on information. They need assurance that the glass and glazing components they choose are going to deliver performance that contributes to an efficient, comfortable and long-lasting built environment. Building performance depends on it—as does the architect and their firm’s reputation.

Additionally, we may never see things go “back to normal,” or at least not as we once knew them. After a year of virtual collaboration, many industries are questioning many traditional business paradigms. For example, Canadian Architect magazine suggests the following: “We knew that air travel was massively contributing to climate change. We were holding on to an old paradigm—that as design architects, we could only be truly effective if we showed up physically and regularly. Clients will still want the best architects for their projects, but travel will be strategic. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other platforms are proving that we can collaborate and communicate effectively in real time.”

In light of these trends, what should we as fenestration professionals do to ensure we’re arming architects with the information and education they need to create high-performance buildings? I think it comes down to two things:

Making information—and ourselves—accessible. As architects increasingly turn toward digital channels to find the product information they need when writing specifications, we need to make that information easy to access on our online platforms and venues. Technical documentation, testing data and educational content are all valuable resources for a remotely working architect who really wants to get to know your product better.

But a data sheet or a webinar isn’t always enough. Make it easy for architects to follow up with your reps and have ongoing conversations as they solidify their material choices throughout the project. And when the world opens up again, be available for on-site or office visits.

Maintaining strong relationships. Our industry has always been relationship-driven—something that I don’t think the pandemic has changed. If anything, relationships are more important than ever.

People work with people they trust. Our collective ability to build that trust, and to work closely and collaboratively with all of our customers, is critical to the advancement of the commercial glass industry. Especially as stringent new codes and regulations around the world drive more efficient building envelopes, architects must be certain their designs will meet those high standards. As a collective group, we must continue to advocate for glass as the material of choice for façade performance and aesthetics. Continuing to foster our relationships with this design and engineering audience, and by providing them with the information they need, will be key to success.

How are you working to make yourself and your products and services more accessible to your customers in an increasingly virtual world? I’d love to hear your answers—drop me a line at Joe.Erb@Quanex.com.

 

Addressing Energy Consumption in Older and Historic Buildings

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How can you tell if a commercial building is inefficient? In New York City, you’ll now know as soon as you walk through the door.

At the start of this year, a new rule went into effect requiring multifamily, nonresidential and public or government buildings greater than 25,000 square feet to post an A-F letter grade based on the building’s Energy Star score. Late last year, New York magazine took stock of 50 of the most recognizable properties in the city—just four of them received an “A” rating, and the majority fell into the “D” category.

The new system speaks to the urgency with which New York officials are taking on energy efficiency and sustainability, and are just a precursor for what’s on the horizon. Per New York magazine:

If the grades seem harsh, that’s on purpose: They’re intentionally stringent, a sort of name-and-shame policy to encourage energy-efficient retrofits. Whether New York’s buildings can be chastised into better behavior remains an open question. But the grades are really just a step on the way to stricter rules, with a mandate for building owners to cut their emissions by 40 percent by 2030; they’ll have to start taking steps toward that goal by 2024. Either way, as Department of Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Roca put it, the grades are a tool to give New Yorkers a clearer picture of where building owners stand when it comes to building a more environmentally friendly city.

While building owners in New York might be facing the most immediate regulatory consequences, the quest for greater sustainability in all types of buildings is happening everywhere. Buildings use up about 40 percent of all energy produced in the U.S., making them a prime opportunity for society to reduce its collective energy consumption and curb emissions.

Glass and glazing, of course, play an important role in creating a more efficient building envelope. And, as evidenced by the situation in New York, I expect there to be increasing opportunity in major window and glass improvement and retrofit projects in the years to come; all of those “D” rated buildings will have some catching up to do, after all. Another example: As USGlass recently recapped, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which owns and leases thousands of historic properties across the country, will roll out the 2021 version of its standards in the coming months. With a sharp focus on building efficiency, some of these structures will need high-performance fenestration improvements to stay up to standard.

As energy requirements grow more stringent for all buildings, older and historic structures present an interesting challenge. Our industry has long been tasked with delivering increasingly high performance while simultaneously meeting the needs of modern architecture and design in new structures. The task in historic structures is the inverse: We must be able to deliver performance without disrupting the aesthetic integrity of an existing, culturally significant building.

As in everything we do, this requires some creativity and the right mix of high-performance products. For example, outright window replacement may not always be desirable when seeking to maintain historic integrity. But oftentimes, higher-performance glazing can be created using what’s already there—a single-pane window can be transformed/renovated into a double- or even triple-paned unit with the right technology, while low-E coatings can drive performance even further. Spacer selection is critical here—the right product will help maintain long-term performance. And in older (if not truly historic) structures, full window replacement utilizing high-performance framing and glazing technologies can be an effective way to maximize total building efficiency.

New York won’t be the only location seeking to retroactively improve the efficiency of its older buildings in the coming years. Our industry will be tasked with bringing the right solutions to these projects—and I’m confident in our ability to do just that.