Spring 2015

Papyrus—Spring 2015

Cover Headlines:

Message from IAMFA’s VP of Administration

LED Adoption by Museums

Schedule for the 25th IAMFA Conference in Chicago

New Continuous Improvement Series

A Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting

Caption for cover image:

The two bronze lions in front of the Art Institute of Chicago were a gift from Mrs. Henry Field for the Institute’s opening in 1893. The Art Institute is hosting the 25th IAMFA Annual Conference in September 2015.

Message from the Vice-President of Administration

Help us Celebrate our 25th Anniversary!

By Randy Murphy

Dear IAMFA Members and Sponsors,

This year, we reach an important milestone in IAMFA’s history—our 25th Anniversary. It will be celebrated, aptly enough, in Chicago, where it all began with our first conference in 1990. This will be a great opportunity to celebrate the past 25 years, which have taken us from a small group of museums with big dreams of creating a professional organization of museum facilities administrators—originally led by George Preston of the Art Institute of Chicago—to the IAMFA of today. Much has happened over these past 25 years, but one constant has been the continuing development and growth of IAMFA, and its lasting value to our cultural and corporate membership, our sponsors, and the international cultural community.

While we take a moment this year to acknowledge the past, it is really the opportunities and promise of IAMFA’s very bright future—and our next 25 years—that we are celebrating. This is, of course, made possible in large part through the dedication and contributions of our members, but also through the consistent and ongoing support of our sponsors.

Throughout its first 25 years, IAMFA has been lucky to have Conference Sponsors who have shared in our goal of providing outstanding facility management of the buildings and operations dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the world’s most important collections. We have also benefited from the input and dedication of IAMFA members, who have led our all-volunteer association to the outstanding organization it is today.

It is my pleasure to announce that, as we turn 25, IAMFA is launching an exciting new Corporate Sponsorship Program, in addition to our highly successful Conference Sponsorship Program, to ensure that the educational opportunities and support IAMFA provides will continue for the next 25 years and beyond. For new Corporate Sponsors, this is a unique and one-time-only opportunity to become Founding Corporate Sponsors, ensuring the ongoing success of IAMFA and the work it does.

Corporate Sponsorship of IAMFA provides unequalled, ongoing and meaningful connections to IAMFA Member Organizations in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States—in other words, to many of the world’s top cultural organizations. We at IAMFA are keen to explore ways in which our Corporate Sponsors can achieve their goals through sponsorship and through the introduction of products and services to our Member Organizations. It is through this process that our members will learn of new and existing solutions that support our various missions, while also helping us to achieve our mutual objectives.

Our existing sponsors and Corporate Members are among the most creative companies in their respective industries, and are a perfect match for our equally creative cultural organizations. It is going to be exciting, and great fun, to see how we can work together to make important connections, and help each other solve issues, prosper and, quite simply, operate our institutions in the best and most efficient ways possible.

IAMFA offers Corporate Sponsors an opportunity to reach an influential market of nearly 300 international Member Organizations in the cultural sector through the triennial publication Papyrus, which features technical articles, full-page sponsorship recognition, and sponsor listings. Digital media is also available to sponsors through our website newiamfa.org, with recognition on the homepage, archives of educational presentations by Corporate Sponsors, and the Papyrus electronic archive.

IAMFA’s LinkedIn group provides sponsors with direct social-media access to 850 members from 54 countries through ongoing communication, personal messages, announcements to the LinkedIn group, an annual listing of Corporate Sponsors, along with the possibility of targeted promotions and contests.

In addition, Corporate Sponsors will enjoy an opportunity to meet and connect with members during IAMFA’s annual multi-day conference, at which the latest technologies and products are shared. Sponsors also receive recognition at the conference for their contributions and participation. IAMFA conferences provide excellent networking opportunities, allowing members and sponsors to build lasting professional relationships.

The IAMFA Diplomat Award, periodically presented at the Annual Conference, is another way in which we recognize corporations that have significantly advanced IAMFA’s mission by making exceptional contributions to the state of design, construction, operation and maintenance of cultural facilities. There is also a Lifetime Achievement Award that recognizes outstanding career achievements or contributions to IAMFA’s mission. Corporate Sponsors can also connect with the many IAMFA Chapters across the globe through Regional Chapter meetings.

So, how can you help us celebrate our 25th Anniversary? We are in the process of reaching out to all of our past and current Conference Sponsors and, if you haven’t yet heard from us, you will very soon. Of course, please feel free to reach out to us as well. We value your support, and look forward to talking with you about this new program and how we might be able to help one another.

If you are not currently a sponsor, but would like to become one, please let us know. If you are already a sponsor and know of another company of which we should be aware, we want to hear from you as well. If you’re a Cultural Organization member, we need your assistance, too.

Please let us know if you are aware of a company that is interested in sponsoring IAMFA, or one with which you work that you think other IAMFA members should know about. IAMFA Members can also help by remembering to consider our sponsors when making purchasing decisions—when you support our sponsors, you are supporting IAMFA.

We will be reaching out to all of you as the program grows, but please don’t wait for us—we would be pleased to hear your ideas at any time. You can contact me via email at [email protected] or [email protected], and by phone at 323.857.4725.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Nancy Bechtol, my Co-Chair, and our Corporate Sponsorship Committee members, Rich Reinert, Stacey Wittig and Shaun Woodhouse, for their leadership and contributions. If you would like to serve on the Corporate Sponsorship Committee, please let us know; we welcome your participation.

A special thank you as well to Bill Caddick and Patrick Jones, our hosts for the 2015 IAMFA Annual Conference. They have been great partners in coordinating our Corporate and Conference Sponsorship programs during this Founding Corporate Sponsorship launch. I would also like to thank and recognize Members of the IAMFA Board for their wisdom and support.

In closing, I hope that you will join us for our 25th Annual Conference in Chicago from September 20–24, where we are expecting more than 100 museum facility administrators and sponsors from around the world. It will be an excellent opportunity to network with peers, and to learn about new trends and technologies from industry leaders and technical experts. It should be quite a party—we look forward to sharing in the celebration with you.

Randy Murphy is Director of Operations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and has served on the IAMFA Board of Directors in numerous roles for many years, spanning much of IAMFA’s history. Randy can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected], and by phone at 323.857.4725.

Letter from the Editor

For regular visitors to the IAMFA website, (newiamfa.org), yes, the rumour is true: Joe May has finally hung up his pen, and I have taken over as editor of Papyrus. The good news is that, whilst Joe has stepped down as a Member of the IAMFA Board, he is still working away in the background in his role as IAMFA webmaster and manager of the IAMFA LinkedIn site, while also supporting the regular publication of Papyrus.

Those of you with longer memories will remember Papyrus as rather thin monochrome magazine. Under Joe’s editorial leadership, the magazine is now produced in full glorious colour, sometimes with well over 50 pages. What I have noticed most is an increase in the number and quality of technical articles, which I know have been of great value, and do contribute to our continual professional development (CPD).

What may not be so obvious to fellow IAMFA members is that Joe has also almost singlehandedly renewed the IAMFA website from top to bottom, while also setting up the LinkedIn site for IAMFA members. At last count, the LinkedIn site had 848 members in 54 countries—a magnificent achievement by anybody’s standard. I am sure that IAMFA’s membership will be with me when I say that we owe a great debt of gratitude to Joe May for all his work on the IAMFA board, and his tireless efforts in promoting the IAMFA cause. So, on behalf of all IAMFA members, thank you, Joe May!

So, with a new editor, what changes can you expect? Well, my first task will be to try and maintain the quality and standards that Joe has achieved over the years: a massive undertaking in its own right. In trying to reach that goal, I have a few ideas on how we can perhaps expand the educational content by asking learned colleagues—especially suppliers of specialist plant and equipment that we as estate/facility managers employ—to provide technical articles. To all our specialist suppliers, then, please get in touch, as we would like to both tap into your specialist knowledge, and learn more about your products.

In the interests of improving communication between the IAMFA Board and you, the IAMFA membership, we will also be asking Board Members to provide short résumés of their progress in their individual areas of responsibility. This month, we are pleased to include a piece from Randy Murphy, VP Administration, regarding his work on the new Corporate Sponsorship strategy.

In addition to these initiatives, of course, we still want to hear from you, our members, as often as possible. This is your magazine, and should reflect your knowledge and experiences, so I would ask for your continued support in providing your stories. I am sure we all have experiences that would be of interest to our colleagues. As I have often said, if I can write an article, so can you, so please get those keyboards going.

Moving on, I know that Bill Caddick and Patrick Jones are hard at work preparing for our next international conference, which will be held in Chicago from Sunday, September 20 (the Benchmarking workshop) to Wednesday, September 23, with an optional extra day on Thursday, September 24. For details of the conference, please visit the website, where details of the conference venues are displayed, including a link to the Hyatt Regency Chicago, our conference hotel.

This particular international conference in Chicago celebrates a very important anniversary in the history of IAMFA. It is fitting that we are returning to Chicago, where it all began in 1990, when George Preston, Director of Physical Plant at the Art Institute of Chicago, recognized the importance of sharing knowledge and experience with fellow professionals. Along with other likeminded colleagues, he accordingly laid the groundwork for the organisation we know today. To honour that vision, this important 25th anniversary is being celebrated in George Preston’s hometown of Chicago.

From previous experience I know that, once we get into July and August, things really start to pick up with the sheer number of last-minute details that need to be resolved as the start of the conference draws ever nearer. To help, please go to the website’s Payment page as soon as you can to sign up and confirm your conference attendance. Please remember that the Thursday trip is an addition to the main conference booking, and needs to booked and paid for on the Payment page. Nothing makes management of the conference easier than by knowing just how many colleagues have signed up as delegates, guests, and for the additional day.

Whilst we are on the subject of payments, if you have not already paid, please remember that your 2015 IAMFA membership fee was due on January 1, so please remember to pay before the last date, which is July 15, 2015.

Jack Plumb, Editor

Message from the President

By Nancy Bechtol

Running an association of our size with volunteers is not an easy task. I am reminded every month during our Board meetings just how challenging it is to oversee a membership of hundreds of professionals from all over the world, utilizing folks who have very busy day jobs!

We also organize our annual meetings with volunteers—this year, Bill Caddick and Patrick Jones are key. I have watched them slowly but surely organize this year’s conference. One month they handle sponsorship; another month, the museum sites we will see; and yet another month, the logistics of transportation and educational programming. I marvel at how it all comes together, one month at a time, proving that an annual conference of our size and quality can indeed be pulled together by a dedicated membership.

I hope you have already gone to our website and registered for the 25th Annual IAMFA conference in Chicago this coming September. We have provided a detailed schedule for this year’s program in this edition of Papyrus. Each day has been programmed from morning till night, starting on Sunday with our Benchmarking Workshop, and ending on Thursday with an extra day trip by bus to Milwaukee to tour museums in that part of the country. Some of us just can’t see enough during the official three days of the conference, and truly appreciate this extra day to visit cultural facilities in towns outside of the host city. We are all going to be in for a real treat in September as we celebrate our 25th year in the same town as our very first meeting.

In January, we welcomed Jack Plumb back onto the IAMFA Board, to take the place of Joe May as the Board Member responsible for editorial work. We were all so very sorry to lose Joe on the Board; he has worked tirelessly for IAMFA for years, but needed to take a break to concentrate on his day job. For many weeks during the year, Joe would clock nearly 20 hours a week handling our IAMFA workload. His dedication to IAMFA was truly a part-time job, and we will likely never replace that level of effort with another volunteer Board Member. We all work hard, but Joe set a bar no one else has yet been able to match!

Joe is still managing our Papyrus magazine, and serves as editor of our website and LinkedIn group. This work still requires a minimum of 10 hours per week, but it is better than the 20-plus hours he used to put in for us. We are most fortunate, however, that Jack is willing to join up with us again. The transition has also been seamless because of how well these two work together.

There are other members of IAMFA whose volunteer efforts are absolutely critical to our association. Our Regional Chapter Chairs come immediately to mind, because we would only come together once a year without this group of dedicated members. The UK Chapter actually organizes a two-day conference for each of their regional chapter meetings. The Washington Metro chapter organizes excellent lectures and tours around a specific theme at various cultural institutions in their region. Two different chapters in California have continued a tradition, for more than a decade, of solid scheduled meetings and tours. Their California best practice is actually helping to advise a group from the northwestern USA and Canada, as they organize their first meeting as a new chapter of IAMFA.

These jobs are not easy, but our Chapter Chairs make them look just that. We have gathered this group of Chapter Chairs at the past two Annual Meetings and will do so again in Chicago, as it helps to get them all together to share experiences, ideas and practices. IAMFA is all about networking and sharing our professional experiences with one another, and our Chapter Chairs are key to our success in reaching that goal.

One of my goals is to encourage every member of IAMFA to do a little bit more for our association. If we each got involved in making this a better organization, we would be able to do everything we have outlined in our Strategic Plan. Each of us could contribute an article to Papyrus, post a facilities question within the LinkedIn group, organize a tour or presentation for their local Chapter, or consider hosting an Annual Conference in 2018, 2019 or 2020.

I am a firm believer that your career will benefit if you do decide to take a step forward and help just a bit more than you already do, because we are an organization of volunteers, and we need you. I can’t thank our existing volunteers enough for all they do, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you in the future!

Nancy Bechtol

President

LED Adoption by Museums: Survey Results and Recommendations

By the U.S. Department of Energy

The recent switch to LEDs to illuminate Michelangelo’s masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is just one of the latest in a series of high-profile installations that show how far the technology has come—not only in terms of its acceptance and adoption, but also in terms of its performance. But solid-state lighting (SSL) is a long way from being a slam-dunk in such settings, where the heightened stakes can magnify the importance of some of SSL’s remaining issues.

To shed light on the matter (pun intended), in June 2014, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted a survey of museums on behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE), the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI). The responses and recommendations—which are presented in a new GATEWAY report, SSL Adoption by Museums: Survey Results, Analysis, and Recommendations—offer valuable insights for manufacturers, as well as for specifiers and museums.

The report analyzes the survey responses of 46 members of the museum community, who had requested a copy of the document Guidelines for Assessing Solid-State Lighting (SSL) for Museums, a pivotal resource written in 2011 by Jim Druzik of GCI and Stefan Michalski of CCI. Most of those who responded to the survey were museum directors, designers, conservators, curators, as well as those involved in collections care and registration; about a third were international.

More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents placed a high priority on energy efficiency. Respondents also indicated, however, that they wouldn’t sacrifice potential damage or light quality/aesthetics to achieve it. At the same time, they acknowledged that lighting quality is not necessarily diminished by higher-source efficacy, and that it’s possible to achieve both high lm/W and high-quality LED performance.

More than half (51%) identified incandescent as their principal lighting type, with LED at 40% (compared to almost none in 2009); CFL at 13%; linear fluorescent at 11%; and others (including metal halide, halogen, and daylight) at 22%. Color, spectral power distribution (SPD), and damage potential were the main considerations in lamp selection, with affordable, high-performing, attractive products that won't become obsolete considered key. When evaluating potential damage, the majority considered ultraviolet and infrared content, and about half considered short-wavelength emissions in the SPD.

Although 75% of respondents experienced early LED product failures, the maximum reported failure rate was only 2.5% of the installed lamps or fixtures. The most-noted sources of failure were electronic components (drivers, power supplies), rather than the LED sources themselves. Respondents indicated that they’re looking for warranties that cover LED chips and electronics, lumen depreciation, and color shift, and some are even looking for warranties that are longer than their return-on-investment period.

When asked whether they would consider and implement another LED installation, 71% indicated yes; 6%, no; and 32% of respondents said they already had. When evaluating the success of the installed LED lighting, respondents solicited feedback from groups of observers: unanimously favorable from the public, and 97% favorable from museum staff.

Dimming was generally deemed important to achieve required low-light levels, down to 5 fc (50 lux). Nearly two-thirds (over 65%) of respondents would use lighting controls if they worked with their existing lamp-based infrastructure and afforded lamp-by-lamp control of light intensity (and, if possible, chromaticity). They would also like the ability to monitor lux levels on an object-by-object basis. Dimming incompatibilities still exist and, due to the added challenge, older systems of mechanical controls (e.g., screens) are still being used to modify the light output of lamps, because they are simple, inexpensive, and effective.

It was clear from the survey that museums would use controls if they were user-friendly and not prohibitively expensive. Wireless controls would be easier to retrofit, because no additional control wires need be run between the dimmer and the load, and luminaires equipped with a wireless receiver could be individually dimmed to customize light output for a specific object. This would allow for setting and maintaining illuminances within conservation parameters (thus more easily tracking lux-hours on an object-by-object basis) and provide additional energy savings, as compared to using screens to reduce output. However, survey respondents indicated that at this point in time, controls are too complicated; this is likely to change in the coming years.

Respondents were skeptical about the predicted life of LED lighting products, due to the lack of “real” proof. Although L70 (the point at which lumen depreciation reaches 30%) is often accepted as the typical failing criterion, this is not always adopted by the museum community; significantly shorter lifespans, such as 5,000 hours, are frequently used in economic analysis.

Overall, questionnaire responses and comments showed that there is still confusion about different LED products and what museum staff should be asking for, as well as concerns about maintenance. It was clear from the responses that education and experience are needed at multiple levels.

A link to the complete GATEWAY report, SSL Adoption by Museums: Survey Results, Analysis, and Recommendations can be found on IAMFA Education page at www.newiamfa.org.

Within These Walls

By Joe Hernandez-Kolski

I’m in my car once again

I wouldn’t be doing this if Jess wasn’t my best friend

It’s her birthday

And she wants to see the Urs Fischer exhibit today

And the voice inside my head is screaming

Are you crazy?

Why did you click “going” instead of “maybe?”

Now you have no choice

You’re driving downtown on a Friday

Did you even think about parking?

Well, there goes your whole day!

As I pull a U-Turn and grab a meter

The voice is getting even louder

Haven’t you been paying attention

You know the score

You’ve got way too much to do

You don’t have time for fun anymore

You’ve gotta keep posting, liking and tweeting

You’ve gotta keep up

Keep your head down 24-7

A 9 to 5 is no longer enough!

I buy my ticket

Attach my button

And the voice inside my head

It just keeps comin’

China is beating us at math and science!

And your college roommate just made a funny video about the rebel alliance!

Why go to a museum?

You’ve got to go viral!

I step in the doors and

I am greeted by the sweetest elderly woman in the history of elderly women

Her smile says

Say goodbye to that voice

It’s about to disappear

Cuz fortunately that voice doesn’t have a membership here

And now all I hear

Is nothing

No, it’s something

A studying

A surveying

A calmness breached occasionally by a child crying

I see my friends

“Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in forever, how’ve you been?”

And we do what our ancestors did before freeways

We walk

We read

We talk

We breathe

Wow

I have to take a step forward

To really notice the details

Imagine the process

Look at that

I have to take a step back

To really enjoy what’s in front of me

The pure artistry that has been preserved for all of us to see

Including these high school kids all around me

I see the lights going on inside their eyes

They are not snap chatting

These are memories that will survive

And the voice inside my head whispers

It’s pretty cool, right?

This is what you are meant to do with your life

See the world differently

Create something with meaning

In a world where human life is fragile

Where loved ones come and go

Within these walls

It is our collective creative energy

We together uphold

Like a dot on a canvas

I feel smaller than I’ve ever felt

Yet a part of something more important than me

One giant connected line of history

I am reminded of everything and everyone

Who existed before me

So I can share this experience with those who are born from me

And on and on and on we go

Into infinity.

© Joe Hernandez-Kolski

Joe Hernández-Kolski is a two-time HBO Def Poet and Emmy Award-Winner, actor/poet/comedian. Visit his website at www.pochojoe.com.

A Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting in Museums and Galleries

By Emrah Baki Ulas, Steensen Varming

Museums and galleries engage audiences across generations, contributing long-term value to our communities through the preservation, research, interpretation and exhibition of historical and contemporary art, objects and stories. As such, they are well placed to advocate sustainable practices, foster a culture of environmental stewardship, and champion green issues. By enhancing their own sustainability, museums and galleries are able to set a positive example, demonstrate leadership to their communities, and effect positive change.

The changing and evolving nature of museums and galleries has, on the other hand, resulted in a wide spectrum of exhibition and spatial typologies over time. The objects these institutions house range from historical manuscripts and ancient objects, to organic specimens and fossils, and from Renaissance paintings to contemporary art and digital media, and much more.

They are stored or exhibited, temporarily or permanently, in spaces that range from small to large, private to publicly owned, within building types of different complexities that accordingly require varying systems for climate control and lighting. As a result, the capital, operational and maintenance budgets of these facilities also present very diverse typologies that serve different objectives, priorities, organisational structures and processes.

All of these factors make a sustainable approach to climate control and lighting in museums and galleries a non-prescriptive task. With such a widely variant spatial and contextual range, establishing common criteria and methodologies is not only challenging, but may also not adequately respond to the specific needs that will best serve these facilities.

Moreover,in this era of sustainability and energy use, best-practice expectations for building systems are also rapidly evolving. Museum and gallery facilities are under increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact and become more efficiently run, whilst maintaining an optimal environment for exhibition display remains the key concern.

A Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting in Museums and Galleries is a study developed by Steensen Varming and International Conservation Services. This work was commissioned by Museums and Galleries Queensland, in partnership with the Museums & Galleries of New South Wales, the Regional and Public Galleries Association of New South Wales, and the Regional Galleries Association of Queensland.

The Guide has been informed by national and international theory and practice, and aims to contribute to the ability of museums and galleries across the globe to strike a balance when it comes to providing a well-rounded background and practical approaches for complex issues. While the technical issues discussed are of regular debate, and should always be considered with specific regard to the local environment, the Guide provides principles that are largely applicable, or at least informative, for most facilities around the world.

This initiative received funding from the Australian Government's Department of Industry and Science as a part of the Energy Efficiency Information Grants Program, and is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, state and territorial governments.

A link to The Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting in Museums and Galleries can be found on the IAMFA website’s Education page at newiamfa.org.

Emrah Baki Ulas is an Associate with Steensen Varming, and is based in Sydney, Australia. Emrah can be reached at [email protected]

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Benchmarking Utility Best Practices

By Keith McClanahan, Facility Issues

Utility costs always seem to be on the lists of hot topics or top issues among IAMFA members. When you look at the overall spending pie chart for the IAMFA Benchmarks Survey, it's easy to understand why. The median spending for utilities, maintenance, and security costs are about equal for the group, and represent nearly ninety percent of total operating costs. IAMFA members who are working to improve their budget performance and focusing on utilities are working on one of the critical components of their costs.

At the last Benchmarking Practices and Learning Workshop, many participants were using benchmarking to reduce their utility expenses or consumption. Some were focused on specific issues or problems they were experiencing with extreme weather or rate hikes, while others were looking at their overall performance. Benchmarking can help with both issues and more.

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Caption: Participants in the Benchmarking and Learning Workshop held during the 2014 IAMFA Annual Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Most IAMFA members are familiar with the benchmarking concepts. There are web-based forms to enter regarding a given institution’s demographics, such as gross area, visitor counts, age, etc. This demographic information is needed so that the costs and consumption can be normalized among all benchmarking participants. For continuing participants, we carry over the prior year’s data, so that they need only enter the information that has changed.

Then there are the specific forms for the various major cost components. One example of a portion of the utility-cost section is shown below.

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Caption: Figure 1: Annual Utilities Costs—IAMFA 2014 Benchmarking Survey—Facility Issues

From this data, the IAMFA Benchmarking Survey provides normalized charts to compare the following:

Electrical cost per KWH
Electrical consumption per GSF or GSM
Electrical cost per GSF or GSM
Total utility cost per GSF or GSM

All of the cost charts are available in the participant’s currency. The graph below shows how participants compare to their benchmarked peers for total utility costs. Note that each vertical bar represents an institution, and that each institution is coded so that only the participants can identify one another. The cost (US dollars in this example) ranges from a low of $1.23 to $19.44 per GSF (gross square foot), with a median cost of $3.39.

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Caption: Figure 2: Annual Utilities Costs per Area—IAMFA 2014 Benchmarking Survey—Facility Issues

A question many of the participants asked at the Benchmarking Practices and Learning Workshop in Edinburgh was, “What can I do to move to the left on this chart, without affecting our collections?” To improve your institution’s performance, you need to know what to change in your facility. One way to do that is to compare what others are doing.

The IAMFA Benchmarking Survey can help with that by analyzing which best practices have been implemented by quartile of performance. Over the past several years, the Steering Committee and Facility Issues have been identifying “Best Practices.” The Utility Best Practices are organized into nine sections, and Benchmarking participants indicate which of these best practices have been implemented. Here is a screenshot showing the Utility Best Practices; the details of the “Commissioning” section (UB2) have been expanded to show all the questions.

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Caption: Figure 3: Utilities Best Practices—IAMFA 2014 Benchmarking Survey—Facility Issues

Next we will review implementation results, to see if these best practices affect the utility-cost performance. The results for the same section highlighted above are shown in the table below (Figure 4) with the implementation rate shown for the overall group and by quartile. This is enlightening for several reasons:

The first-quartile participants have the highest implementation rates.

The fourth-quartile participants have the lowest implementation rates.
The second and third quartiles show mixed results, so there are clearly other factors affecting utility performance. After all, this is only one of the nine Best Practices sections in the utility section of the report. Other best practices will have an impact on performance.
The results offer good analytical data that could help support a recommendation to implement more commissioning at a given institution.

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Caption: Figure 4: Utilities Best Practices Implementation Results by Quartile—
IAMFA 2014 Benchmarking Survey—Facility Issues

Facilities managers should carefully analyze all of the Best Practices to determine which would offer the highest return on investment and the highest benefit in reducing utility costs. By applying these, you are sure to improve your performance. For a little bit of your time, you will receive quite a bit of valuable feedback on which Best Practices would have the most benefit in improving your performance.

The Benchmarking Survey is endorsed by IAMFA, and registration for the 2015 survey is open. To register, please go to:

www.facilityissues.com or email [email protected].

Keith McClanahan is Principle with Facility Issues Inc., and is the coordinator of IAMFA’s Annual Benchmarking Exercise.

Historic Building Information Management: Mount Vernon 3-D Model Underway

By Alyson Steele and Robert Fink

George Washington was a meticulous record-keeper. Among the documents and artifacts maintained today by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association are many of the first President’s extensive notes regarding the design and construction of his stately mansion along the Potomac River. After acquiring the property in 1754, Washington carefully documented the evolution of the circa-1735 farmhouse over the next 45 years, as he oversaw Mount Vernon’s expansion to a 21-room mansion with numerous outbuildings, gardens, and landscaped grounds.

Today, in keeping with Washington’s tradition of detailed record-keeping and vigilant stewardship of the property, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) is developing a state-of-the-art 3-D model and database that will provide access to an unprecedented amount of information regarding the mansion and site. This Historic Building Information Management (HBIM) tool will serve as a “virtual file cabinet,” enabling scholars, curators, and facility managers to explore, utilize, and update layers of historical documentation, records, images, and as-built conditions for the property.

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Caption: Mount Vernon mansion along the Potomac River in Virginia.

Revealing the Layers of History

To refine the HBIM concept, and carry out a pilot project to prove the concept’s viability, MVLA turned to Quinn Evans Architects, a firm that has completed several projects at Mount Vernon, including restoration of the 16-sided treading barn, greenhouse, and whiskey distillery. The four-person MVLA-Quinn Evans working group began with the north end of the mansion, which includes the saloon room, or “New Room,” as a pilot area. Based on the success of this first phase, the team is now proceeding with documentation of the entire mansion.

The process began with a review of decades of relevant documentation, including the plantation’s Historic Structures Report (HSR) and Cultural Landscape Report (CLR), drawings created by archaeologist Morley Williams in the 1930s, and new records from MVLA’s recent restoration of the New Room. Quinn Evans team members also toured the structure, including crawling through difficult-to-reach areas with Thomas Reinhart, MVLA’s deputy director for architecture, in order to access the house’s framing.

A series of laser scans provided another critical layer of information, revealing the complexity of the framing above the New Room in particular. Working closely with Reinhart, Quinn Evans incorporated the information from this array of sources into a detailed model of the building, carefully representing the construction logic as well as spatial organization of the mansion.

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Caption: The New Room.

The initial effort documented some interesting aspects of the framing of the New Room. In a crawlspace above, wooden hangers made of scrap lumber support the room’s beautifully curved ceiling. In one instance, scans depicted a piece of crown molding reused as a hanger. Close inspection of the element indicated that it was likely repurposed from another part of the house affected by the building of the New Room. Installation of an air-conditioning system in the 1990s had damaged this fragment of historical crown molding—an example of the type of inadvertent harm to historical fabric the team hopes the HBIM will prevent in the future.

Customizing to MVLA Requirements

As Quinn Evans began to model the structure, team members worked closely with MVLA to establish clear naming conventions that would build upon and integrate conventions of the extensive MVLA documentation for the database. For example, all historical buildings on the estate have a three-letter prefix, such as MAN for mansion or STA for Stable, and each room has an identifying number. As a multi-dimensional visual record, the HBIM uses these MVLA conventions, and builds upon them to create unique identifiers for walls, doors, fixtures, framing members, and other components, to allow for straightforward queries. Users will be able to find information spatially, or by searching the database.

The model integrates two basic types of information about building elements: essential and cultural. Essential information, or the inherent properties of the building elements, will be embedded into the system as custom parameters of the model elements themselves. This includes the date of original installation, material properties and data, craftsmen, manufacturers, products, repairs, and maintenance dates. These custom parameters incorporate information from Washington’s era to the present day.

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Caption: Quinn Evans Architects mock-up of a graphic user interface for the Mount Vernon HBIM.

Cultural information will be provided by linking reference documents to the building elements, and will supplement that information with rich detail, including photographs; analytical documents; historic references; stories regarding design, construction and conservation; information about people and events; and myths and legends. In this way, users can either quickly access basic information on the history and maintenance of an element, or go deeper and retrieve its complete archival record. All of the information will serve to guide future restorations and support ongoing stewardship at Mount Vernon.

A User-Friendly Model

Quinn Evans created the 3-D model using Autodesk’s Revit® software. Through a custom-designed workflow, the model was then imported into Esri’s ArcGIS platform. The 3-D capability of CityEngine, and the user-friendly accessibility of Web Scene, will enable users to access information about both the buildings and the landscape from desktops or mobile devices, retrieving details ranging from nails and doorknobs to the location of the property’s honey locust trees. Searches will take users through different eras of construction, and detail all aspects of facility management, including timetables for maintenance. The database will soon be put to good use, for example, in guiding the installation of a new fire-suppression system, ensuring that the incorporation of the new system’s equipment, piping, and sprinkler heads will not damage the historic structure.

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Caption: Revit model with a filter applied, indicating the dates of construction.

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Caption: Revit model showing properties of a wall in the user interface.

“With 280 years of history to preserve and reference, while accommodating approximately one million visitors a year, the MVLA will rely heavily on the HBIM to guide many aspects of our stewardship,” Reinhart notes. Ongoing restoration and preservation efforts, including maintenance, will clearly benefit from this dynamic tool. And George Washington’s 45 years of detailed records—now in the process of being captured in the database—can be routinely accessed, as well as safely preserved, among the estate’s historic artifacts.

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Caption:Web Scene screenshot of the overall mansion.

Alyson Steele, AIA, LEED AP, is a principal, and Robert Fink, AIA, is an associate with Quinn Evans Architects.

Ownership

By Jay Yelen

Let’s face it: who of us working in facilities management doesn’t take ownership? When something goes wrong, you take it personally. After all, we virtually live in our museums, don’t we? We collectively and individually look to build a better mousetrap.

For some of us, that statement can be taken quite literally. I started working as the Director of Properties at the Chicago History Museum in March 2010. With five years under my belt here, you would think I’d be used to it. But something manages to surprise me about once a week at these facilities. It stays on my mind until I close my eyes for the night, and forces them open in the early hours of the morning. I’m just like you. My museum might be considered somewhat on the smaller side, but it can be plenty to handle throughout the course of the day.

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Caption: The Chicago History Museum.

The Chicago History Museum comes in at about 265,000 square feet. I handle day-to-day operations for the Museum’s support staff, which includes our engineer (that’s right, I have only one); the A/V technician; an offsite custodian; and the chief of security. I also oversee our outsourced housekeeping department, which tends to get accidentally blended into the building maintenance department.

Being a smaller museum, the theory often called upon is “All hands on deck.” One minute I will find myself working on a budget report or speaking at a staff meeting; the next I might be rodding a clogged toilet. That is just how it is. My job description was originally three pages long. I ruin a lot of neckties.

The person who had the job before me was here quite a long time. He had his own filing system, which I would consider controlled chaos. I was working in his old office for a week before I discovered that it was carpeted. The number of artifacts and documents in the main building alone could total over 23 million. But honestly, we have never attempted to count them. We have been at this location, (our fifth) since 1931. Our original name was the Chicago Historical Society.

We went through a re-branding/remodeling in 2006. At that time, we opened a permanent gallery, complete with Chicago’s first L-car, on loan from the CTA. It is one of the oldest historical artifacts that you can still touch and walk through. Every time I go through it, I still can’t get over just how small people used to be. In the 1970s, a structure was added to the building, doubling its footprint and relocating its entrance to face Clark Street, instead of the park at the east side. An HVAC system was installed that was locally controlled by pneumatics.

In the mid-1980s, the museum once again got a major renovation, giving it the look it has today from the outside. It was around that time that some of the areas were given electronic controls and linked with a building automation system. Then, again in 2006, when we added our Crossroads Gallery, more HVAC upgrades were added, and another building automation system was put in place to handle the new areas. This gave the CHM three independent HVAC systems. Each does not know what the other is doing. I am quite certain that the original plan was to eliminate the old systems when the new ones were installed, but budgets had to be maintained and, since the old systems were limping along, they were still considered “working.” The result is a complicated array of systems, tubes and wires that only a seasoned engineer could love. It was what I consider a “Franken-VAC.”

We have two offsite storage facilities for which I am responsible as well. One is 20,000 sq. ft. and the other is 100,000 sq. ft. I’m sure you’re wondering why we have such a small storage site at 20,000. To the best of my knowledge, the site was sold to us by the First National Bank of Chicago for a dollar in the 1980s. It was once a bomb shelter, built above ground, and buried into the side of a man-made hill. Being inside it is as bone-chilling as it sounds. The concrete ceiling is 18 inches thick, and the front door is almost a thousand pounds. It will take a 3-megaton blast from 3 miles away.

Just inside the entrance, there are decontamination showers and disabled horns and lights to warn of high radiation. There are two generators in the machine room that were disconnected long ago been. Their 30,000-gallon fuel tank is now a sump basin for access rainwater. Since the building is underground, it manages to stay at 62 degrees all year round. There is an air-handler and a boiler, but the air-cooling system hasn’t worked in years. We would only run it to dry the place out.

The custodian there has a system of portable dehumidifiers he uses around the building. He has the humility locked in at 45% almost all year, as well. If you can picture painted concrete and cinderblock walls that return into a beige vinyl composition 1960s floor tile, complete with a white metal galley kitchen, then you would have a pretty clear vision of that place. All of that, lit by cool-white fluorescent lights, running from one end of the space to the other.

The most dank items are the dig-out exits. Positioned in the far opposite corners of the space, there are two 3 x 3-foot metal doors. Opening them exposes a wood-slat array that holds back fine gravel. Bolted to the door inside is an army-type shovel. The idea is to remove the slats and dig the gravel out, exposing a tunnel and ladder to the surface for evacuation, in the event that the doors could not be opened in the front. I was told that the chamber holding the gravel was three feet square, and over 20 feet to the surface. It would be an awful procedure to dig out and, after all these years, I’m not even sure that the gravel would continue to flow out of the hatch. Another exit has since been installed nearby, but the dig-outs remain as a reminder of what we were willing to do to protect ourselves from a threat that almost happened not too many years ago.

For five years I have maintained these properties. I would like to say that I have been able to make moderate improvements. We have reduced our pneumatic-controlled areas by 30%, and added another stacked cooling module on to our staged cooling system. In the summer, we switch our system to a centrifugal chiller. This will give us time to clean and maintain the staged system. In the winter, we clean the centrifugal.

We have an array of solar panels that produce 45kw of power that feeds back into our grid. We now have two working low-pressure boilers that have a linkage-less control system to dial them down. We use heating in the summer to balance our humidity and temperature, as well as provide hot domestic water.

As much as I would like to, I find it difficult to take in outside air, due to pollution and high humidity here in the city. Being next to the lake, we tend to stay around a high 70% humidity, although we require between 40 and 50%. We are always reacting to the aging systems, which I consider to be the true nature of this beast.

It has all given me some gray hair, which I will accept in place of losing more of it than I already have. I am called upon day and night. I am the person cringing next to the large breaker that is tripped as I throw it back on. The people here have turned into my one big dysfunctional family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’d love to write more, but my phone just rang, and I have to drive down to the Museum tonight, since there was another power glitch by our electric supplier. It’s 8˚F out, and the chiller tower probably has two hours before it will freeze over.

I hope to meet you in September at the IAMFA Conference, and we can talk about the CHM as well as the city itself. If it happened in Chicago, we have it here at the Chicago History Museum. We are Chicago!

Jay Yelen is Director of Properties at the Chicago History Museum, and can be reached at [email protected].

[Centrefold—Conference Schedule]

A Visit to The Mary Rose

By Allan Tyrrell

On December 4, 2014, a group of 12 engineers and facility mangers from the UK Chapter of IAMFA were treated by Dr. Eleanor Scholfield and her team to a tremendous day out at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, where we visited the Mary Rose exhibition (http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/).

A presentation at the IAMFA Scotland Annual Conference in September had whetted my appetite for more information about the flagship of Henry V111, the Mary Rose. After I contacted the Museum, Eleanor arranged for us to have a group visit to view the new £27-million building and learn about the conservation processes that are ongoing to preserve the Mary Rose and its artefacts for the public.

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Caption: The Mary Rose Museum. Photo: Mike Peel/www.mikepeel.net

The Historic Naval Dockyard itself houses some other remarkable ships and displays. Nelson’s 1765 ship, HMS Victory, upon the decks of which he died at Trafalgar, is also on display.

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Caption: HMS Victory.

The Dockyard features Great Britain’s first iron-hulled, steam-powered warship as well: HMS Warrior, built in 1860.

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Caption: HMS Warrior.

We were also treated to the sight of HMS Alliance, a British submarine from the Second World War, which has recently undergone a £7-million refit. In addition, there were a number of other exhibition spaces that we did not have time to visit.

The Dockyard is still a working dock, and shares space with modern warships of the Royal Navy—some of which were in port when we visited.

Back to the Mary Rose and the Museum. She was built at Portsmouth in 1510, primarily of English oak. Launched in 1511, she served for 34 years in the English Navy, but sank in 1545 in the Solent, off Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. It is not clear exactly why she sank, although there are a number of different theories. She went down with all hands (up to 450 men), and only 25 escaped.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to raise her, and then she was lost until 1836, when she was rediscovered. Soon after, she was forgotten again until 1965, when a team led by Alexander McKee set out to find her a second time. There is are a series of images called the Cowdray Engravings showing the loss of the Mary Rose, made around 1547. The wreck was found very near this spot. She was finally raised in 1982 and the conservation story starts there.

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Caption: The Mary Rose, with her distinct carrack profile and high “castles" fore and aft. Although the number of guns and gun ports is not entirely correct, the picture is generally an accurate illustration of the ship.

The ship had been partially covered in silt at the bottom of the estuary, which had helped to preserve her. The exposed part had rotted away, but the silt had prevented considerable deterioration to what remained. A great deal of time was spent in the preparation to lift her. I certainly remember watching on television—along with up to 60 million people—as the remains of the ship were lifted from the seabed, attached to a steel frame, and lifted onto a nearby barge.

The frame was then bought to Portsmouth Dock, where the conservation process began. The team at Portsmouth explained to us how they went about this, along with the intriguing technicalities involved in preserving an artefact like a Tudor ship. Only one other ship of similar age had ever been raised—the Vasa, a 17th-century Swedish warship—and they had to get the systems right, otherwise they could have lost everything.

Once ashore, the Mary Rose was wrapped in protective foam and polythene and constantly sprayed to keep her wet. She was housed just behind HMS Victory, and a hall was built around her. She was sprayed with chilled and recycled fresh water 24 hours a day for 19 years. This prevented the wood from drying out, removed salt, and stopped bacteria from growing on the timbers.

Members of the public could come and view the ship from a viewing bridge. In 1985, she was turned upright, and titanium supports were installed to support her. Meanwhile, archaeological work was going on inside the ship itself, with the first priority being to clean out as much of the sediment as possible.

Once the ship had been turned upright, the team was able to replace the deck timbers. Any missing timbers were replaced with specially manufactured titanium beams. All the timbers and features were photographed and documented before being reinstalled.

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Caption: The Mary Rose turned upright during restoration.

The last timber was put into place in 1993. In 1994, the conservation spray was changed to Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), a wax that gradually replaces water in the timbers. Since 2004, they have been using a more concentrated form of PEG, which coats the outer layers of the timbers to seal them.

The sprays were switched off during the first half of 2013. The hull is now being dried out in environmentally controlled conditions in a sealed hot box where, over the next three years, they will be removing an estimated 100 tons of water from the timbers: dehumidification on a mammoth scale!

The Museum is housed in a Grade 1-listed dry dock. We were taken into the base of the dock, which was sealed off from the sea, then used to house the Mary Rose and the plant needed to carry out maintenance of the hull. The sight of the remains of this great ship; the way the Museum opens up to enable you to gaze inside of the hulk; and the presentation of the artefacts on display (as many as 19,000 were raised during the retrieval process, including many skeletons) are things that stay with you long after you have left Portsmouth.

The Mary Rose hull and her artefacts are housed in a building that was designed and built specifically for that purpose. The architect envisaged the building as an oyster housing a pearl, and it is certainly a striking addition—and a surprisingly effective contrast to HMS Victory, which is immediately adjacent.

The building sits in Number 3 dock, which is itself a listed monument. It is supported by four main structural piles driven 16.5 metres into the substrate, with additional foundations for subsidiary support within the dock. The building took just short of three years to build. During the whole of this time, the PEG spraying of the hull and fine–tolerance environmental conditions had to be maintained within the hot box, in addition to the need to physically protect the hull—while the original Wemyss building was dismantled, and the new building erected around it.

The strikingly streamlined building gives no indication of the state-of-the-art systems and equipment within. These supply the hull, artefacts and visitors with the finely tuned environmental conditions required to maintain conservation of the hull and artefacts, while also ensuring visitor comfort. This is achieved via three plant rooms containing boilers, air-handling units, circulating pumps, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, and sensing equipment that is controlled and monitored by a Building Management System. They provide environmentally controlled, monitored air to the ship hall, galleries and artefacts inside the Museum.

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Caption: Cannon from the Mary Rose.

The building measures 74 x 29 x 17 metres, with three gallery floors, and a lower working and plant level within the dock itself. The structure of the building comprises a steel portal frame, incorporating nearly 500 tons of steel, with insulated walls and a uniquely insulated roof, which together lead to a thermally efficient building. The complexity of the systems within can be illustrated by the fact that the systems incorporate 400,000 metres of electrical cabling; 1,500 metres of steel piping; and 8,000 metres of copper piping!

Our group of IAMFA UK Chapter members were amazed by the efforts that have gone into the presentation of this amazing ship, and the buildings and systems that house her. We had a great day at Portsmouth—the Museum was very interesting, and we all agreed that we would be going back soon.

The link at the beginning of this article provides additional information on this interesting museum, and the dedication of the team of conservators, engineers and other staff who look after her. We are hoping that Eleanor Schofield and others from the Mary Rose Museum will join IAMFA and become regular participants in the UK Chapter; they will be a great asset.

Allan Tyrrell is Chief Engineer at the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London. Allan can be reached at [email protected]

Continuous Improvement: If You’re not Getting Better, You’re Probably Getting Worse!

By Thomas A. Westerkamp and Joseph E. May

Maintaining the status quo just doesn’t help you compete, so if you like being at the top of your game, you need to look continuously for ways to improve.

For years now, most facility managers at cultural institutions haven’t had to make an actual decision about whether they should look for better ways to accomplish work, or ways to reduce consumption of energy and water. Cuts in operating budgets have forced this upon us. So continuous improvement is important; in fact, it is a necessity, and almost everyone tries to do it in one way or another. The question is: how can we do a better job of it?

With this article, Papyrus is beginning a series on Continuous Improvement, and we’d like to invite everyone to contribute to future articles.

Prior to my [Joe’s] days working at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, I spent 20 years with an industrial engineering firm that focused on improving work methods and worker productivity. I worked with clients ranging from producers of teabags to the Space Shuttle, to everything in between, and industries from coal mining to meat packing, banking to infant vaccination, and even museums!

They all had one thing in common when it came to their efforts to improve operations. Every improvement in method or process they ever made began with an idea and ended in implementation. Most liked to calculate the savings also, but not always; sometimes they didn’t want anyone to know that there had even been room for improvement.

So, a very good place to start for those trying to implement a continuous improvement program is to create a structure that includes a way to generate lots of improvement ideas, along with a way to manage those ideas through to implementation. It sounds simple, and it can be. It doesn’t need to involve a lot of sigmas or control charts; it just needs to get everyone looking for waste, and generating ideas for how to eliminate (or at least reduce) that waste.

And, when anyone does get an idea for a way to improve operations, it’s very important to document the idea, so that it doesn’t slip between the cracks. If you are one of those seeking to get better at continuous improvement, one of the first steps is to have a procedure in place that is going to keep the pipeline filled with improvement ideas, along with a way to track them through to completion.

In the next issue of Papyrus, we’ll continue with an example of how you can implement a simple tracking system for continuous improvement ideas, which will help you get started quickly.

But first, let’s talk a little more about how to generate ideas for improvement. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that many, if not most, ideas for improvement come from the people who are closest to the work. That’s right: the people who manage the work, and the people who actually perform the work. It is surprising what you can learn when you just ask a technician, “What could be done to make this job easier for you?” At the Getty, we implemented more than 200 improvements over a period of a few years by meeting with supervisors, then with technicians, to help generate ideas for improvement and help get them implemented.

There are other ways to identify opportunities to improve the way in which work is accomplished. A Maintenance Process Audit at budget-preparation time is an excellent way to uncover cost-improvement ideas that can result in stretching budget dollars further. Auditing maintenance operations allows you to:

Identify high-potential areas of improvement
Calculate potential savings based on these improvements
Know how to quickly find specific improvements
Start a continuous improvement program
Justify improvement costs based on realistic program savings and a known return on investment

Maintenance audits can be performed annually to reveal further important ideas for improvements and savings. You can do a Pareto analysis of the budget accounts. Rank accounts from the highest dollar amount to the lowest. Apply the 80/20 rule: 80% of the dollars expended are in 20% of the accounts. While all the accounts can offer some potential for improvement, these high-dollar accounts are a good place to start to find substantial and immediate cost savings.

Some data is already available, and if we do it a little at a time, we can avoid a last-minute rush. What follows is some information that we can all use to make it easier.

Start with your annual operating and capital budgets. Whether the facility has 200,000 square feet or 2,000,000, there are certain items that come up year after year that the facility has to budget for. You will already have a pretty good idea of the annual costs of items such as preventive maintenance, minor routine maintenance, utilities and much more. Other items, such as snow removal, emergency repairs, and the like are variable, but can be generally accounted for in a well-prepared budget. Finally, contributions to the capital fund for those big-ticket items that are going to appear in a few years need to be accounted for as well.

Another source of savings opportunities that can contribute to the process is the Work Order System. Using the Work Order System and Equipment History, you can search for repetitive repairs that are high-maintenance when it comes to both frequency and hours. Using the repair history, you can determine the average interval between repair occurrences, and average repair time per occurrence. In most report modules in the Computerized Maintenance Management System, there are Pareto reports that can be automatically generated using a metric such as descending total labor and material cost by Equipment Number.

Again, after ranking the items, you will find that the 80/20 rule applies: that is, a disproportionally large number of dollars are spent on a small number of equipment items. You can then focus on two ways to reduce costs: (1) design out the cause of the high cost using root-cause analysis, or (2) re-analyze the preventive maintenance frequency and method. For example, frequent bearing failure may be due to the wrong lube or wrong frequency—too much lube at a time, or too often, blows seals and allows dirt or moisture to destroy the metal; too seldom, or not enough, allows the bearing to dry out: same result—or both.

Using troubleshooting results can reveal still more ideas for improvement. You may have noticed an increase in water use by comparing water and sewer bills from one period to another. By using sub-metering, or checking for leaks in fixtures, or listening for water flow when or where none should be flowing, you can isolate the cause and lower water consumption. You can often feel water flowing simply by placing a hand on the drain line in the basement.

Other non-destructive testing equipment can identify ideas for improvement: vibration analysis to detect excessive vibration on rotating equipment; ultrasonic testing on mechanical or electrical equipment; infrared testing for excessive heat; oil analysis for oil deterioration or metal particles; power-actor meters to detect high kilovolt amp reactive power losses. These are just a few examples of using predictive maintenance to find ideas for improvement.

Using improvements in technology offers a very fertile field for cost improvement. Everything from lighting to paints to HVAC, to electrical distribution, roofing, security, and all building systems, have undergone continuous design improvement due to the need for manufacturers to gain competitive advantage.

Other factors driving these improvements in technology are government mandates and changes to building codes. For example, certain fluorescent tubes can no longer be manufactured in the U.S. or imported from other countries. When the current inventory runs out, alternative lighting such as newer fluorescent or LED light fixtures will have to be installed. Such upgrades not only save a great deal of energy, but can also result in rebates from the power company to offset the capital cost of the installation.

HVAC systems have undergone major design improvements as a result of government efforts to reduce ozone depletion. A whole array of new air-conditioning refrigerants is in use today, replacing R22, the standard for many years. Another example is roofing. The standard building material used to be multi-ply asphalt, with or without stone ballast. Today, many new single-ply options are available, such as TPO and EPDM.

Continuous improvement is an important goal, and we’d like to tap into the expertise of IAMFA members and others who have been successful in running efforts aimed at achieving it. Please join in if you feel that you have something to contribute, and help everyone to benefit from your successes. We will have more on this topic in the next issue of Papyrus.

Tom Westerkamp is one of the leading experts in the field of Maintenance Management, with a career spanning five decades, helping countless companies around the world. He’s given back by contributing nearly 200 articles to various publications, including Papyrus. Tom can be reached at [email protected]. Joe May has worked in the field of Industrial Engineering his entire career, and served on the IAMFA Board of Directors for ten years. Joe can be reached at [email protected].

Communication Within the National Library of Scotland

By Jack Plumb

This article will chart the progress of radio communication within the estate of the National Library of Scotland. At the recent IAMFA conference in Scotland, some of you will have enjoyed the Benchmarking, Registration and Opening reception in the Library’s main building on George IV Bridge. The bulk of the Library’s work is carried out in this building, and in two other facilities located within Edinburgh City centre: the Causewayside and Lawnmarket buildings.

When I first joined the Library in 1995, we communicated primarily via pagers, some of which supported voice communication. The actual use of these devices was very limited, however—due, we assumed, to the fact that the buildings were heavily reinforced steel structures. Two-way radios were also introduced, mainly for the use of fire marshals. The same problem occurred here as well, with very limited reception for these radios and a lack of communications between buildings.

The next problem was identified when the Library invited the local fire brigade— Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)—into the building for familiarisation with our sprinkler installation. We met to discuss ways in which the SFRS would tackle a fire within the building, incorporating use of the sprinkler installation. At that first meeting, it was quickly noted that reception for their radios was also severely limited by the structure of the building. As a result, the SFRS set down a desirable operational (radio frequency) signal level that they thought achievable throughout the building.

Faced with this requirement, I set about trying to find a way to introduce an aerial system to the Library that would allow improved reception for radios/pagers, while also addressing SFRS requirements. I had read an article about this type of communication problem during construction of the Mont Blanc tunnel, which was solved using a “leaky feeder”. A leaky feeder or radiating cable, as the name suggests, is a communication system used in underground mining and other tunnel environments, and is designed to radiate a signal down the length of the cable.

Once I had decided that this radiating cable could be a part of a possible solution to my communications problem, my next task was to identify a supplier with sufficient technical knowledge. We needed them to design a system for a multi-storey building, half of which was effectively underground. Most importantly, we needed the system to meet SFRS requirements and demonstrate that their RF specification was being achieved.

These assorted challenges could accordingly be used as the specification requirements for a new communications network, and can be summed up as follows:

The communications network had to allow fire-brigade radios to operate throughout George IV Bridge and Causewayside, while meeting the SFRS’s desired specification for communications networks.
The communications network had to allow two-way radios to operate within and between George IV Bridge, Causewayside and Lawnmarket, utilising the fibre-optic cable network recently installed between the three central Edinburgh buildings.
The communications network had to allow the existing pager system to work throughout George IV Bridge, Causewayside and Lawnmarket, utilising the fibre-optic network recently installed between the three central Edinburgh buildings.
The communications network had to be able to address health and safety issues such as man down and lone working, as well other desirable features such as text messaging, and even support for wireless LANs.

To meet these requirements, a thorough search of the market was carried out. Whilst there were plenty of “box” suppliers in the market that could just about meet one of the objectives, nothing we found gave us confidence that any specification requirement could be fully achieved. Various systems to provide mobile communications were considered, including:

Cordless telephone technology, especially DECT (digitally enhanced cordless telephones). This technology would have required a large number of transmitter positions to be carefully distributed throughout the building, and would have meant complete replacement of all existing equipment within the Library, including existing two-way radios and pager equipment. A further drawback was that a separate network would still have been required to support the fire-brigade radio system, which was the main reason for these considerations in the first place.
Standard mobile telephones. These were not really considered, as they lacked the necessary penetration into the building, and would have incurred costly running fees. In addition, a separate network would still have been required to support the fire-brigade radio system.

This where a big slice of luck came along—the kind that we all experience at some point in our careers. When talking to my boss at the time about my frustrations in trying to find someone I could trust to design a communications system for the Library, he suggested that I should meet a friend of his. This friend was in the radio communications industry, and had been running his own comminications company since March 1994, utilising CT2, DECT and low-power radio solutiions.

Jack Hood and I first met in 1996. He explained that, after working for many years for two well-known radio manufacturers, he had set up his own company—Integrated Services—to design bespoke communications systems. Jack suggested that we should start by asking the SFRS for specific radio requirements that would allow their radios to work in a fire situation, anywhere in the building.

The SFRS determined that the signal strength they required was a minimum of about minus 93dBm. We suspect this may have been the first time they had ever been asked this question with the intent of actually delivering an installation that included a verifiable way of demonstrating that this signal strength was, in fact, being delivered to any location within the building. After considering these alternatives, the Library decided to proceed with an evolutionary process based on the leaky feeder technology.

Jack’s first task was to design equipment that could be transported through the Library’s restricted access to measure various attentuations created by the building’s structure. From these results, he would then need to design an aerial system based on leaky feeder technology, in order to provide radio communication that would support both the fire brigade and the Library’s two-way radio installations.

A master plan was agreed as follows:

Install a new radio communications feeder network within Causewayside which, with suitably designed filters and access points, would meet the fire brigade’s operational requirements within the complex. This new communications network would also integrate the Library’s two-way radios and pagers. As an added bonus, a connection to the Causewayside pager system was designed to work over the existing Library-owned inter-building fibre-optic cabling.
Install a new communications feeder network within George IV Bridge which, with suitably designed filters and base stations, would provide the same capabilities as Causewayside. In addition to this installation, further enhancements were made to include installation of a telephone handset in each control room, allowing any radio in Causewayside to talk over the network to the security suite in George IV Bridge, and vice-versa.
Install a new radio communications system within Lawnmarket which, with suitably designed filters and base stations, would provide comprehensive radio communication to George IV Bridge over the network. In addition to this installation, extra radios were purchased with lone-working and man-down capability, which considerably reduced the risks when a lone security guard was touring Causewayside at night.

The biggest drawback to this system was that each of the manned buildings could only communicate with the telephone handset in each security suite. This meant that the lone-working and man-down capabilities of the radios were useless when either security suite was not manned. To address this weakness, the next step was to source an audio “routing” switch, which would allow any radio in any building to communicate with any radio in any other building. Ideally, this switch would have a connection to a computer, thus allowing full control, monitoring and investigation of the radio communications network. The final requirement of this switch was that it support two separate frequencies, which would allow future replacement of the Library’s antiquated pager installation with radio-based communications.

Once this switch was installed and commissioned, the final stage of the plan involved replacing the pager installation with a radio-based communications system. This would mean trading in the existing pager frequencies—one for transmission and one for receiving—and replacing them with a new frequency for the operation of a new radio installation. This meant that security would have sole use of one frequency and the rest—porters, estates, contractors and book fetchers—would have use of the second frequency.

To ensure that each of these different groups would not have to listen to the chatter of other groups, each set of radios would be programmed with sub audio-tones, so that only radios in that group could send and receive messages. Certain key individuals had radios that could operate on both channels for use in emergencies.

Implementation of this plan was carried out, starting in Causewayside in 1998. The Causewayside array consists of some 14 dual-band (VHF/UHF) tuned in situ “Hot-Spot” dipoles, installed beneath the false floors on Levels 2, 4 and 6 in Phases I and II of the building. All services are combined into the array via a VHF/UHF combiner.

The installation in George IV Bridge was completed in 2000, with a network that consisted of a mix of leaky feeder, 19 dual-band “Hot Spot” whips, and a dual-band collinear aerial. Like Causewayside, all services are combined into the network. The final phase of the plan occurred in 2001, with the installation of a combiner fed into a single dual-band collinear aerial.

SFRS access to the networks in both George IV Bridge and Causewayside is provided by externally mounted boxes, which have lids that open to switch the RF feed from the box via the RF switch direct into the network. This allows the SFRS to connect their base station directly into this box, which facilitates direct communication via their radios over the building networks. This gives firefighters solid communication anywhere within these two buildings. No SFRS access was provided for the Lawnmarket building, as it can be adequately covered using existing SFRS communications arrangements.

Security control is provided via Motorola Centro Plus controllers located within the Causewayside and George IV Bridge security suites. These, in turn, control Motorola Eurobase repeaters located at each of the sites. Battery back-up secures eight hours’ operation for George IV bridge and four hours’ operation for Causewayside. The repeater panels have an extra advantage over a simplex base by allowing users intercommunication over the network.

To allow Causewayside and George IV Bridge to work either autonomously or as one, a line switch has been provided in the George IV Bridge security suite. This utilises the Library’s existing inter-building fibre-optic network, installed between the three sites, which provides video, data and speech interconectivity.

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Caption: New digital base station installation installed within Lawnmarket Building

In 2014, following a check to determine whether or not the exisitng networks would support digital signals, the three existing anaologue base stations were replaced with digital base stations. This allows the bases to communicate with one another, and their users, over the Library’s IT Network. As a consequence, the handheld radios also had to be changed to digital ones.

The Library now has a solid, controllable radio installation, allowing communication to be carried out between every location in every building, to every location in any other building, whilst retaining SFRS access as before. With the change to a digital service, all radios can be programmed to provide different capabilities—the most obvious being that, with a change of channel on the handheld radio, that radio becomes a man-down/lone-worker radio that is in regular communication with either security suite, (usually programmed to the George IV Bridge security suite. This means just a little more safety for the lone security operative carrying out nighttime tours of the Causewayside building.

Finally, at the beginning of 2015, it was decided to follow the more modern practice adopted by large building complexes of truly integrating the Fire Service into the networks “full time” by installing a dedicated repeater at George IV Bridge and Causewayside for the sole use of the SFRS. These stations are live, but their transmission capability is restricted and controlled from override switches located at two specific locations at both sites. This now allows the Fire Service to turn up should there be a call, and immediately begin using our network for “fireground” communications with a minimum of fuss.

Jack Plumb is Head of Estates at the National Library of Scotland, and serves on the IAMFA Board of Directors as Editor.

Regional Chapter Updates

Washington, D.C.–Baltimore Regional Chapter

By John Bixler and John Smalley

The Washington-Baltimore Chapter meeting was held on February 11, 2015 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., and was hosted by IAMFA member David Conine. The meeting was sponsored by Mueller Associates, which made a presentation and generously provided lunch for the 44 attendees.

Jessica Reid from Mueller Associates began by introducing Mueller, and gave us bios for herself, Bob Marino and Todd Garing.

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Caption: Jessica Reid from Mueller Associates addresses attendees.

Todd Garing made a presentation on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Revit 3-D modeling. A lot of great questions were asked by our members, and questions were posed to us as facility managers. We discussed how a facility manager can use this technology. Todd explained that submittals could be tied in, and that maintenance and preventive maintenance can be incorporated with numerous options.

Next, Todd and David made a presentation on overcoming various obstacles in order to provide temperature and humidity control in the Rare Collections and exhibit spaces associated with the Folger Shakespeare Library. This was followed by a tour of the boiler room.

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Caption: Host David Conine making a presentation to the group.

I’d like to say special thank you to Muller Associates; it was great having their team take part in our Chapter meeting.

Northern California Regional Chapter

By Jennifer FragomeniThe Northern California Chapter has had a very active winter. Instead of our usual single meeting, we met twice: on December 17 and February 17. Both meetings were well attended and included tours of very interesting facilities: one historical and one new construction.

In December, we had an opportunity to meet at The Old Mint. The Old Mint is the site of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, which has plans for a major renovation. We were hosted at this historical site by our friend and colleague, IAMFA member Tamara Hayes, before she departed from her role as Sales and Event Manager to pursue a Masters degree in Museum Studies.

We enjoyed a fascinating presentation about the renovation plans from architect Belinda Young of HOK, followed by an entertaining historical tour led by Historical Society docent, Jason. It was a fun and fitting way for us to bid "adieu" to Tamara.

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 Caption: Stonework damaged by 19th-century acid fog at The Old Mint.

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 Caption:Left to right: Weston Perry, Image Bi/ISIS; Jesse Jackson, Exploratorium; Mark Palmer, SF Environment; Dan Dunn, The Museum of the San Ramon Valley; Tamara Hayes, The Old Mint-San Francisco Historical Society; Jennifer Fragomeni, Exploratorium; Jesse MacQuiddy, Exploratorium; Heather Hickman Holland, San Francisco Art Institute; Joe Brennan, SFMOMA (retired); Charles Booth, ABM Facility Services; Lilly Stamets, UCSF Medical Center; and Edgar Maxion, Stanford University Libraries.

After the holidays, Charlie Booth of ABM Facility Services offered to coordinate a tour of San Francisco's new Transbay Transit Center. This is an important civic construction project for the San Francisco Bay Area. Even though the Northern California Chapter had already had its winter quarter meeting, this opportunity was too good to pass up! We met in February, and we were treated to a delicious lunch of dim sum at the famous Yank Sing restaurant, sponsored by ABM.

After lunch, ABM Vice-President of Sales, Lance Graville, gave a short presentation on the services ABM has to offer. Then we walked to the offices of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority for a bird’s-eye view of the project site and a presentation of the project plans, followed by a tour along the project perimeter by their engineers.

The project engineers were obviously proud of the work in progress, and answered all of our questions with an impressive depth of knowledge. We are all looking forward to seeing how phase one of the Transbay Transit Center turns out in 2017.

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Caption: "Large steel beams serve to temporarily shore up the foundations of buildings adjacent to the Transbay Center's construction site in downtown San Francisco. The construction site contains more temporary steel shoring than the permanent steel structure will have.

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 Caption: Left to right: Nils Welin, Eon Venture; Bill McMorris, Oakland Museum of California; Lisa Llewellyn, Oakland Museum of California; Lynnda Tran, ABM Facilities Services; Chuck Mignacco, Exploratorium; John Krauskopf, Western Railway Museum; Jesse Jackson, Exploratorium; Jesse MacQuiddy, Exploratorium; Shani Krevsky, Exploratorium; Greg Zaharoff, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Charlie Booth, ABM Facilities Services; Mike Badger, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Heather Hickman Holland, San Francisco Art Institute; Joe Brennan, SFMOMA (retired); Jennifer Fragomeni, Exploratorium; Dan Dunn, The Museum of the San Ramon Valley; and Jeff Phairas, SFMOMA.

Current activity in the Northern California Chapter has now extended beyond our two winter quarter meetings. There is a move afoot to help establish a new chapter with our neighbors to the north in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia! Stay tuned . . .

Southern California Regional Chapter

By Randy Murphy

The Southern California Regional Chapter kicked off 2015 with Muse, Mix & Mingle, a new Regional Chapter meeting concept for greater Los Angeles. The meeting was co-hosted by IAMFA and Arts Earth Partnership, and was held at the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) offices overlooking the Museum with sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills, the iconic Hollywood Sign, and “Urban Light” a work of art by Chris Burden. Over 30 guests were in attendance, representing 17 museums, cultural institutions and other partners.

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Caption: Aerial view of LACMA and the display, Urban Light an art installation by Chris Burden.

In many ways, this was an organizing meeting for what the group hopes will become a triennial or quarterly meeting. The afternoon began with a pure mix and mingle, with guests taking the opportunity to get to know one another while enjoying organic, locally sourced fruits, cheeses and breads, in keeping with the sustainable focus of this first meeting.

After a welcome and introductions, the program was turned over to Justin Yoffe, Executive Director of Arts Earth Partnership (AEP), who served as Master of Ceremonies for the event. Guests were treated to a the reading of a poem written and performed for the occasion by two-time HBO Def Poet and Emmy Award-winning actor/poet/comedian, Joe Hernández-Kolski. I hope you had an opportunity to read the poem in this issue.

This was followed by a presentation by Justin on Green Business Certification through AEP for the Arts Sector. Justin elaborated on what the program can offer museums as we look to be good stewards of our buildings, collections, and the planet. He also spoke on the power of an arts coalition and “having a seat at the table” when we discuss our sustainable future.

I spoke next about IAMFA, and the benefits of becoming an IAMFA member. We talked about the upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago, Papyrus, the website newiamfa.org, and our LinkedIn Group. It was encouraging to see the audience’s interest when we talked about IAMFA.

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Caption: In attendance were over 30 people representing 17 cultural institutions and organizations.

David Hodgins, Executive Director of the Better Building Challenge Los Angeles, spoke on Shepherding Better Buildings through the Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge. David outlined the efforts of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City of Los Angeles to launch a comprehensive array of programs designed to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings—from retrofitting city-owned facilities and affordable housing stock, to working with the private sector to support the financing of energy- and water-efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings.

Los Angeles has set a goal of 20% minimum overall savings on 30 million combined square feet of projects, supported through the three programs. The city will work with and recognize private-sector property owners (including our cultural organizations) that make commitments of their own to reduce energy consumption by at least 20% by 2020, in keeping with the goals of the Better Buildings Challenge.

Matt Petersen, General Manager of the Los Angeles Office of Sustainability and the Environment, is the city’s first-ever chief sustainability officer, and oversees the city's environmental practices. He spoke on how LA seeks to create a more sustainable and livable city by:

Improving land-use planning to promote neighborhood quality of life
Conserving energy and water
Mitigating and adapting to climate change
Constructing transit options for an accessible future
Promoting affordability and environmental justice
Restoring and reinventing the LA River

Through these and other steps, LA is working towards creating “The Sustainable City— Los Angeles in 2050."

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Caption:Matt Petersen, General Manager of the Los Angeles Office of Sustainability and the Environment, the city’s first-ever chief sustainability officer.

The afternoon concluded with an opportunity for more mingling, food and an opportunity to view the LACMA Galleries. Funding for the afternoon (and future meetings) was generously provided by an outreach grant to Arts Earth Partnership from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Following the meeting, a survey was sent to all attendees for feedback on the meeting, and how everyone would like to shape these meetings in future. We also asked attendees to provide contact information on other cultural facilities that might be interested in attending future meetings.

The next meeting of the IAMFA Southern California Regional Chapter will be held at the Getty Center on Thursday April 16 at 10:30 a.m.

******* Please save the date for the next IAMFA Regional Chapter Meeting*******

DATE: Thursday, April 16

TIME: 10:30a.m. 12:30p.m.

LOCATION: The Getty Center

Mike Rogers, Facilities Director of the J. Paul Getty Trust, invites you to join your colleagues at a roundtable to include such topics as:

International Visitorship
Cultural Property Protection
Energy conservation and rising utility costs
Collections HVAC Environment Management

Other News from LA

By Joe May

On March 5, LA visitors Bob and Mary Ann Morrone, along with myself and my friend Sally, met Randy Murphy at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for lunch and a great tour! Thank you, Randy, for hosting us for this mini-reunion. LACMA has some amazing exhibits; we were all so impressed. Wow, this would be a great venue for a future Annual Conference!

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Caption: Our group stands in front of the Levitated Mass a large-scalesculpturebyMichael Heizer. The installation consists of a 340-ton boulder affixed above a concrete trench through which visitors may walk. The nature, expense and scale of the installation made it an instant topic of discussion within the art world.

Hawaii News

By Neal Graham

Over the Christmas holidays, at the invitation of Noelani Ah Yuen, Facilities and Security Manager of ’Iolani Palace in Honolulu, I had an opportunity to tour the Palace. Saturday, December 27, 2014 marked the 180th celebration of Queen Kapiolani’s Birthday event and picture below shows Noelani and I prior to our tour of the Palace.

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Caption: IAMFA Members Noelani Ah Yuen and Neal Graham.

’Iolani Palace, located in the Capitol district of downtown Honolulu, is the only royal palace in the United States. It was originally an official residence of the reigning Hawaiian sovereign, and is now a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Two monarchs governed from ’Iolani Palace: King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani, although Kamehameha III, IV, V, and Lunalilo had their main residences here as well. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as the Capitol building for the Provisional Government for the Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaii until 1969. The Palace was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1978.

UK Chapter

By Jack Plumb

Please keep May 13 and 14 open for our next IAMFA UK Meeting. Arrangements are being made at the British Library in London for another excellent program. We will announce meeting details in the LinkedIn Group when they are finalized.

Please contact Patrick Dixon at [email protected] or Jack Plumb at [email protected] soon if you have suggestions for the meeting agenda.

List of Contributors

Nancy Bechtol

John Bixler

Robert Fink

Jennifer Fragomeni

Neal Graham

Joe Hernandez-Kolski

Joe May

Keith McClanahan

Randy Murphy

Jack Plumb

John Smalley

Alyson Steele

Allan Tyrrell

U.S. Department of Energy

Emrah Baki Ulas

Thomas A. Westerkamp

Jay Yelen

Papyrus Spring 2015

Issues of Papyrus that are less than a year old are available to IAMFA members only

If you wish to read Papyrus articles in a different language, please select language below. To view images in articles, you will have to refer to the PDF above, and scroll down to the referenced page number.

Papyrus—Spring 2015

Cover Headlines:

Caption for cover image:

Message from the Vice-President of Administration

Help us Celebrate our 25th Anniversary!

Letter from the Editor

Message from the President

LED Adoption by Museums: Survey Results and Recommendations

Within These Walls

A Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting in Museums and Galleries

Benchmarking Utility Best Practices

Historic Building Information Management: Mount Vernon 3-D Model Underway

Ownership

[Centrefold—Conference Schedule]

A Visit to The Mary Rose

Continuous Improvement: If You’re not Getting Better, You’re Probably Getting Worse!

Communication Within the National Library of Scotland

Regional Chapter Updates

Washington, D.C.–Baltimore Regional Chapter

Northern California Regional Chapter

Southern California Regional Chapter

Other News from LA

Hawaii News

UK Chapter

List of Contributors