Building Commissioning Standard & Check Sheets

This is the first edition of CSA Z320, Building commissioning. This Standard provides guidelines for the commissioning of buildings and all related building systems, and has been developed to deal with buildings and/or their major systems as a whole, rather than as separate individual stand-alone components. It applies to new construction and to renovations of existing buildings or facilities.

The intent of this Standard is to provide a comprehensive, integrated, consistent, and managed process to ensure and document the performance of a complete building and its major systems in meeting the basis of design and operational requirements of the owner.

Major building systems included are:

• architectural systems (building envelope and interior space assemblies that are environmental separators);
• vertical and horizontal transportation systems;
• electrical systems (incoming, main, and branch distribution; fire alarm and detection systems);
• mechanical systems (HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, and refrigeration); and
• control systems and integration (BAS, energy management control systems, lighting control systems).

This Standard has been developed to assist the commissioning team in the preparation and implementation of a commissioning plan. A commissioning plan specifies commissioning requirements for newly installed or renovated building systems and includes, but is not limited to, descriptions of the following:

• the commissioning process;
• the resources required to complete commissioning;
• the responsibilities of the commissioning team; and
• the sequence and integration of commissioning activities.

The intended users of the standard may include workers and professionals who perform technical functions associated with any of these phases of operation as well as stakeholders who have an interest in building safety or related quality assurance, (i.e. developers, general contractors, property marketers, regulators, commissioning providers and consumers). The standard may also facilitate certification to green building rating systems.

The Technical Committee has developed non mandatory annexes (written in mandatory language) to provide further explanatory information. Included in these annexes are sections on recommissioning and retro-commissioning.