Building Envelope Advisory Services

UL’s commissioning services help you obtain maximum service life for your building envelope systems. We also offer assessment services to help you improve the accuracy of your planning and reduce the damage of costly envelope failures as you manage your building envelope assets.

Reduce the risk of performance problems and get maximum service life from installed building envelope systems with our Building Envelope Commissioning services. We provide building owners, managers and insurers in North America with support during the construction process to mitigate the risks of unexpected building envelope performance.

For buildings in the planning and construction phase, our construction commissioning services help reduce long-term operating and repair costs by advising so the building is created with superior durability and a higher degree of in-service performance.

We offer:

• Design assistance and peer reviews of construction documents under development to identify opportunities for improvement
• Performance mock-up testing of proposed envelope assemblies prior to full production and site installation
• Construction reviews to identify materials, techniques and details that should be modified
• Field performance testing of envelope construction activity to evaluate if the completed work meets appropriate performance levels

Building envelope forensic investigations can help you determine the cause of premature performance problems and cost-effective remedial work solutions.

Forensic investigations can help you deal with problems such as:

• Water leakage through roofs or windows
• Condensation on interior surfaces and dangerous icicle formations on exterior surfaces
• Thermal control causing occupant discomfort and/or frozen water pipes
• Glass failure
• Corrosion of fasteners or spalling of masonry
• Pest infestations affecting tenant satisfaction, such as cluster flies and ladybugs

Receive support to adequately prepare for life cycle envelope system renewal and technical assessments to help mitigate the cost and damage of premature building envelope performance issues. Identify envelope components that have deteriorated and present health and safety hazards, demanding immediate attention. Let us guide your building planning and control your operating costs with trusted timelines for regular renewals or with timely, efficient resolutions of unexpected problems.

For real estate asset owners and financers, we provide high-quality and timely property condition assessment (PCA) reports.

Property condition assessments include:

• Assessment of construction details, physical performance and attributes of the systems for the property and buildings located on a site
• PCA carried out following the ASTM E-2018-15, Standard Guide for Property Condition Assessments: Baseline Property Condition Assessment Process
• Estimated costs to conduct necessary repairs to deficient elements or uncovered problem areas
• Assessment of building structure, building envelope, interior finishes, electrical and mechanical systems and exterior areas
• Identify envelope conditions with financial impact during due diligence of a potential building purchase
• Identify the timing and capital spending required to maintain an envelope system during its life and replace the system at the end of a normal life cycle

Reserve fund and restoration services include:

• Evaluation of common elements and a comprehensive report
• Cash flow analysis and supporting documents for Form 15
• Reserve fund study updates
• Technical audits
• Consulting and design services to address identified deficiencies

UL’s team can assist building owners and managers with the preparation of documentation to describe an approach to rehabilitation that can form the basis for a construction contract. These services help address the deficiencies identified in technical assessments and due diligence studies. They help support risk mitigation of accelerated deterioration in building components and systems.

Coordination and quality control to support delivery of a construction project. Using these services helps ensure the success of the project including on-time delivery within budget and to specification.

• UL’s Building Advisory team leverages over 30 years of technical expertise in building envelope consulting, testing, design and commissioning, whose highly qualified members have contributed to technical committees and industry publications, such as Glass Canada, ASTM, ASHRAE, FGIA, CSA and ABAA.
• UL has been trusted to work on high-profile landmarks and heritage buildings, including Freedom Tower, 1 Vanderbilt Place, Canadian War Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canadian Museum of Nature, Montreal Olympic Stadium and Canadian Parliament Buildings.

The UL Building Envelope team provides these advisory services by using the following methods: