Contract tender through to demonstration as generally practiced in British Columbia, Canada

Building Commissioning started in British Columbia following the publication of the “Code of Practice for Commissioning Mechanical Systems in Buildings” which was authored by the Standing Committee of Consulting Engineers and Mechanical Contractors of British Columbia. This document was approved for release in January of 1986.  Mechanical Engineers referred to this code in the past when writing their master commissioning specifications for new projects. Mechanical commissioning is an important part of the Mechanical Consultant’s quality assurance process and should never be eliminated from a project, even if an Owner’s Commissioning Authority is hired.

As stated in this document, its purpose was to “define the process of ensuring that a mechanical installation, when completed, will operate in conformance with the contract documents.”

Commissioning is defined in this document as “the procedures, responsibilities and methods involved in advancing a total system from a state of static physical installation to a state of full working order in accordance with the contract documents during which time the owner’s operating staff are instructed in system operation and maintenance.”

Since this document was released, commissioning has increasingly been utilized. Today almost all projects in British Columbia incorporate commissioning to ensure the systems installed perform as intended upon occupancy.

By far the most predominant type of building commissioning currently being done in British Columbia is mechanical commissioning for the mechanical contractor (contract tender through to demonstration).