AHRI Awarded Prestigious ANSI Accreditation

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) announced it has been awarded accreditation by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards developing organization.

"ANSI accreditation adds value to our standards development process by confirming that our procedures meet ANSI's essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus, and due process," said AHRI President Stephen Yurek. "In order to maintain accreditation, AHRI is required to consistently adhere to a rigorous set of requirements and procedures."

Many of AHRI's standards outline technical procedures for uniformly measuring the performance of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and commercial refrigeration (HVACR) equipment. Through the use of these standards and voluntary participation in the industry's performance certification programs, consumers can be assured manufacturers' performance claims are verified and rated uniformly to enable fair comparisons.

"The rigor of ANSI accreditation makes it widely recognized as a valid measurement of a standards program's credibility and competency by federal and state governments and governments outside the United States," said Yurek. "It also enhances the integrity of AHRI's industry certification programs, and improves consumer confidence in the performance of heating, cooling and commercial refrigeration equipment and components both domestically and abroad."

First Digital Commercial Appraisal Reporting Standard for Interoperable Data Exchange

The Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) recently announced that 10 participating member organizations will provide four live interoperable data exchange demonstrations of three of OSCRE's seven standards. Cushman & Wakefield and Prudential Mortgage Capital will provide the first of two demonstrations highlighting OSCRE’s Appraisal Reporting Standard for Commercial Property. A second live interoperable data exchange demonstration will be conducted by Integra Realty Resources and The Situs Companies/CJC Worldwide Technologies.

“The purpose of these demonstrations is to share with these influential IT executives the reason we invested our time, knowledge, and financial funding to create this standard,” explains Matt Marschall MAI, ARA, MRICS, Managing Director, National Practice Leader Agribusiness Valuation Services - Capital Markets Group for Cushman & Wakefield. “We understood as we embarked on this project appraisers, lenders, and other industry stakeholders using this standard would experience very significant benefits in operating costs, access time to quality information, and for the first time, real consistency and transparency in the data we rely on,” he concluded. Marschall has served as the Chairman of OSCRE’s Appraisal Reporting Standard working group.

According to Patrick Craig, Chair of the Business Innovation Committee for Cushman & Wakefield and who will be presenting his portion of the demonstration, “This technology creates a new value proposition for valuation firms and their clients. For valuation firms, we now have the ability to transmit our appraisal report data to the client with speed and accuracy. Previously, this was not even possible. Also, we can validate the data against the data standard to make sure it is compliant.”

John Hall, Chief Credit Officer for Prudential Mortgage Capital’s Structured Finance Group adds, “As a consumer of appraisal reports, I believe that this will change the mortgage underwriting process and help us serve our customers more efficiently. With this new technology, we will be able to stream data accurately and no longer have to re-key information manually. Also, historically the appraisal information was used only once in a single transaction and we would have to fill out a form manually with 15 to 20 data points. Now, we can move hundreds of data points from the appraisal report into our forms, or even store it in our database to help source new transactions or monitor existing deals in our portfolio.”

OSCRE members responsible for the creation of the Appraisal Reporting Standard for Commercial Property include Cushman & Wakefield, Prudential Mortgage Capital, Colliers International, U.S. General Services Administration, Integra Realty Resources and The Situs Companies/CJC Worldwide Technologies.

Common Floor Area Measurement Definitions Announced

The International Facility Management Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association International have published A Unified Approach to Measuring Office Space, a report outlining common definitions for floor area measurements as well as major revisions to IFMA and BOMA’s respective area measurement standards. These common definitions will be incorporated into the standards supported by each organization, with the primary goal being to clarify building measurement and industry comparisons based on floor area measurements.

Currently, IFMA recognizes The ASTM Standard Classification for Building Floor Area Measurements for Facility Management, while BOMA supports The ANSI/BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings. Together, the two standards form the foundation for benchmarking and best practice. They are commonly used by facility professionals and building owners and managers to measure floor area in office buildings.

IFMA and BOMA appointed a working group comprised of key members of both organizations to develop these common definitions. The professionals included had extensive experience in floor measurement issues.

Their mandate was to develop commonly agreed upon definitions to be contained in each floor measurement standard as well as commentaries with parallel definitions that elaborate on the floor area measurement process. The definitions and commentaries are available in the new joint publication, and are meant to be uniform and easily understood by non-technical readers.

“We’ve known that the members of our community need a common communication protocol. They need one set of measurements and one methodology,” said Lynne Blair, IFMA chair of the working group and president of LY Blair Associates in Ottawa. “It’s important to help them save time, effort and money, and with this new unified approach, we can do that.”

“The major benefit of this publication is that it establishes common terms and approaches for measurement that each organization will use as they revise their respective standards,” said Kent C. Gibson, CPM, BOMA chair of the working group and vice president of Zions Securities Corporation in Salt Lake City. “This allows both organizations to be consistent in going forward in the development of their standards. Part of the foundation has been laid.”

A Unified Approach to Measuring Office Space is currently being offered by IFMA and BOMA.

New Standard Provides for Assessment of Potential for Vapor Intrusion into Structures

Vapor intrusion from contaminated soil and groundwater into structures can potentially create significant liability and have a material impact on property value. Because of this, accurately determining whether a property has vapor intrusion issues is a concern for property owners, prospective purchasers and environmental professionals conducting due diligence.

ASTM International Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment has now approved a new standard, E 2600, Practice for Assessment of Vapor Intrusion into Structures on Property Involved in Real Estate Transactions, which will provide guidance for vapor intrusion testing. The standard is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E50.02 on Real Estate Assessment and Management.

Anthony J. Buonicore, chair of ASTM Task Group E50.02.06 on Vapor Intrusion, says E 2600 defines good commercial and customary practice for conducting a vapor intrusion assessment on a property parcel involved in real estate transactions.

“The specific intent was to establish a methodology to determine whether or not there is a reasonable probability that vapor intrusion could present an environmental risk and liability,” says Buonicore. For commercial real estate transactions, Buonicore notes that the vapor intrusion investigation, as defined by E 2600, could be used independently of, or as a supplement to, E 1527, Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process.

The evaluation process, as described in E 2600, consists of four tiers. The first two screening tiers are used to assess the potential for a vapor intrusion issue to exist, so that properties with a low risk can be screened out quickly and inexpensively. The third tier provides for more site-specific and comprehensive investigations if the potential for vapor intrusion cannot reasonably be eliminated at the Tier 1/Tier 2 levels while Tier 4 addresses mitigation alternatives.

According to Buonicore, because timeliness may be more important than investigation or mitigation costs during real estate transactions, an E 2600 user does not need to proceed sequentially through the tiers in the standard.

“In most cases, however, it is expected that it would be more cost effective and sufficient time would be available in the real estate transaction to conduct at a minimum a Tier 1 screening evaluation and, if necessary, a Tier 2 screening evaluation before proceeding to a more costly and time-consuming Tier 3 investigation or to Tier 4 mitigation,” says Buonicore. He also notes that the process described in E 2600 is designed to complement existing federal and state vapor intrusion policies or guidance.

“ASTM was selected as the best venue to develop the standard because of ASTM’s internationally recognized consensus-based process that has been used so successfully over the years,” says Buonicore. “ASTM is able to bring together stakeholders representing all sides of an issue and work with them to achieve consensus.”

ASTM International standards can be purchased from customer service (phone: 610-832-9585).