Commissioning for the LEED Silver Certified Performing Arts & Humanities Building.

The University of Maryland Baltimore County engaged Colliers Engineering & Design to serve as commissioning agent during the construction of its New Performing Arts and Humanities Building to verify that all systems are well-designed, installed, and functioning in accordance with the University’s design intent, project requirements, and LEED Silver Certification requirements.

The project consisted of two phases of design and construction. Phase I included construction of a 90,250 square foot building to accommodate a 237-seat proscenium theatre with fly tower, black box theater, theater support facilities, classrooms, facility offices and support spaces, with a project budget of $50.2 Million. Phase II included construction of the 84,700 square foot building to accommodate a 300-seat concert hall, instrument ensemble hall, recording studio, a dance studio, classrooms, faculty offices and support spaces, with a project budget of $52.8 Million.

As commissioning agent, we were involved throughout the project, from the design through the warranty phase. Our team’s primary role during the design phase was to develop detailed commissioning specifications and to review the design to verify it met the University’s objectives.

During construction, we developed and coordinated the execution of a testing plan, which included observing and documenting all systems’ performance to verify that the systems were functioning in accordance with the University’s design intent requirements as well as the contract documents.