What is a Facility Condition Assessment?

A Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) provides a complete picture of a facility’s condition in order to identify the capital budget needs for vital repairs and replacements in the upcoming years.

How do FCAs help to increase sustainability?

FCA decisions have a great impact on sustainability, whether it is financial, environmental, or social sustainability. The biggest challenge of a facility manager is to meet the facility needs of the organization and stay in alignment with the organization’s commitment to financial, environmental, and social responsibilities.

FCAs play a critical role in providing facility condition and budget data for facility upkeep. While facility teams often perform FCAs for budgetary decisions, the social and environmental factors the building impacts should be taken into account.

Here are 3 ways a Facility Condition Assessment can aid in increasing sustainability:

1. Reduced Energy Consumption
If a building has many defects, energy consumption will be much higher than what is actually required. Facility Condition Assessments (FCAs) identify weaknesses in the equipment of a building. Maintenance is then performed to fix any deficiencies, thus reducing the excess energy consumption considerably.

While an FCA is not an energy audit, it can indicate the need to repair and replace critical building equipment. When equipment is maintained at proper intervals, it becomes, overall, more energy efficient.

1. Better Work Environment

FCAs can identify areas of improvement for a building, such as factors that can increase the comfort level of occupants. For example, having properly functioning HVAC systems and reducing heat radiance from lights can improve the temperature of a building. You save money and your employees gain comfort!

3. Stronger Social Relations 
The better the work environment, the better the productivity. When productivity increases, customer satisfaction rates increase. This can help you to grow your relationship with your customers and build better retention.

Conclusion

While FCAs aren’t commonly associated with sustainability, they can be vital in identifying areas of improvement in a building. After all, FCAs consider not only the architectural, mechanical, and electrical aspects of a facility–they account for economic, environmental, and social factors as well!

We’re always ready to make a difference! Call us at (905) 602-1850 or send an email to our Director of Building Sciences, Ashar Khan at ak@nadineintl.com, to ask about optimizing your facility.

Going for a Facility Condition Assessment? Find out which one is ideal for you!