Adding a building

Overview > Add Building

This article describes how to add a new building to your account. Adding the building is the first step in creating the baseline energy model.

Adding a building will allow you to then track its overall performance in the portfolio, prioritize it for further refinement and then implement FIMs, Designs and Projects.

Adding a Building

Defining a new Building

From the Overview page, click the Add Building button to begin the process of adding a building to your account.

Defining a new Building

Details

Enter a Building Name. Using the building’s address as its name is also common.
Select the Ownership account so that the building is added into the correct portfolio. This should typically be the building owner’s account or the internal portfolio name.
Select an existing Building Category or create a new category. This can represent the different building types in an account e.g. Offices, Hospitals, Data Centers, etc.
The last entry on the page is the Address field. Simply enter the address of your building and the map will reposition and display the location.
Click Continue to proceed to the next screen.

Description

In the Description screen, assign the Primary Function of the building. This would be the space function with the highest floor area of the building.
A Secondary Function can also be added but is not required.
Select the building's Year of Construction. If unknown, select an approximate year. In some cases referring to the building’s construction drawings can assist in determining the construction year.
Also include the Year of Last Major Retrofits were conducted (if known) e.g. facade upgrades, chiller replacement, etc.
The Primary Cooling Fuel Type and Primary Heating Fuel Type indicate the fuel source of the central cooling and heating plants respectively. The options are:

Electricity: Electrical cooling/heating equipment e.g. Water/Air-cooled chillers, Electric boilers, Rooftop units with DX coils
Gas: Natural gas powers the cooling or heating equipment e.g. Absorption chillers or Natural gas boilers respectively
District: District Cooling (Chilled Water) or District Heating (Hot water or Steam)
None: If there are no heating or cooling systems present in the building.
Enter the average occupancy hours per week for the building.
Click Continue to proceed to the next screen.

Form

The Form page is used to build the building’s approximate geometry. The Building Shape can be selected from a prescribed list of shapes or defined on the mini-map by selecting the edges of the building outline. Further detail is provided in the following sections.
Enter basic attributes like the number of floors, the floor area (this value represents a single level’s area), individual floor heights and lastly the window-to-wall ratio (which represents the area of the windows to opaque wall area expressed as a percentage).
Click Continue to proceed to the final screen.

Block Shapes

From the Building Shape dropdown, select from a range of predetermined building shapes that include Block/Square, Plus, “H”, “L”, “T” and “U”.
Specify the number of levels in the floor field.
Enter the floor area. If there are different floor footprints in the building then use the Add floor definition tool.

Pro Tip: Change the fixed block shapes by clicking on the Customise Edges button and drag the surfaces until the desired shape is achieved.

Define Using Map

Select the Define Using Map option in the Building Shape dropdown.
Align or zoom the map so that the building outline is clearly visible and easy to work with. Click on the Polygon Tool button on the map.
Next, click on one of the building's outline edges.
Continue clicking on each vertex point of the building’s outline.
The polygon shape is completed when the first edge is clicked on again.

Pro Tip: Click the Enter Fullscreen button so the map fills the screen and is easier to click on all the building's edges.

Editing/Deleting

If there is a need to edit or delete a building outline, then follow these steps:

Click on the centre of the drawn shape.
Click on the Delete button.
Now follow the steps as outlined above to redraw the building outline.

Add Floor Definition

Click the Add Floor Definition button.
Specify the floor range with different floor areas.
Enter the differing characteristics into the relevant fields.

For example, if floors 1 to 5 were 20,000 square feet in size and floors 6 to 8 were 15,000 square feet, then:

Review

Review the basic parameters of the data entered and click the Create Building button to complete the process.

If the process has been successful, a pop-up should appear indicating the building has been successfully created. Utility data can be added at this point or skipped.

Pro Tip: Navigate to Baseline > Baseline Builder > Setup to edit any of the fields above after the building has been added to the system.

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