More PEs in the House

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Peter Varsalona, PE

New PEs: Dave Brijlall, James Kelley

We are happy to announce that two more of our staff members are joining the ranks of Professional Engineers.

Dave Brijlall, a project engineer on Rand’s Mechanical team, and James Kelley, a senior structural design engineer on our Structural team, recently passed their Professional Engineering exams and will soon be licensed Professional Engineers in New York State.

Dave is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional, a Buildings Performance Institute Multifamily Building Analyst, a Certified Energy Manager, and a Level 1 Infrared Thermographer. His busy workload entails surveying, designing, and administering upgrades to HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems. In addition, over the past year, Dave has performed a number of benchmarking surveys as well as several energy audits for buildings subject to New York City’s new Local Laws 84/09 and 87/09.

James works on a wide variety of structural design and rehabilitation projects at Rand. One of the more interesting ones is at 73 Worth Street in downtown Manhattan, where James is managing one of the largest sidewalk vault replacement programs for a residential condominium in New York City. The two-story subterranean vault, still largely supported by the original 1850s’ cast iron structural framing, is close to the A, C, and E subway lines, so the project is anything but routine. James has also been providing structural design and investigative analysis for buildings affected by the Second Avenue Subway installation, which presents its own set of challenges.

Dave's and Jim’s PE licenses bring the number of Professional Engineers on our staff to 11 (in addition to 11 Registered Architects). Congratulations, Dave and James. You’ve already made your mark on your many projects at Rand. We’re now proud to have you put your official PE stamp on them.

Giving It Our Best (Places to Work)

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Stephen Varone, AIA

Crain's New York Business recently announced its top 50 Best Places to Work in New York City, and as the President of Rand, I'm happy to say we came in at number 11. We've made the list four years in a row now, so we're pretty sure it's not a fluke. Rand was also the only engineering or architectural firm named. In a city where the A/E industry plays such a major role, that's an achievement in itself.

Unlike most industry awards, which are typically chosen by a select committee of insiders or determined by the company's performance (fastest growing, highest revenues, most profitable), the Best Places to Work winners are rated by how their employees feel about working for them, based on an anonymous survey, which accounts for 75% of each company's score. An employer survey, which scores the company's policies and practices, makes up the other 25%.

Dignity, Respect, Yoga
Crain describes the winning companies as showing a "steadfast commitment to treating employees with dignity and respect. They've also gone to tremendous lengths to imbue the workplace with warmth and a sense of fun." The fact that our employees continue to rate Rand as one of the Best Places to Work year after year gives winning a special meaning.

At Rand, we're proud of the things we offer employees to make working here more enjoyable. Extras such as on-site yoga, an in-house exercise facility, personal training, and nutritional counseling no doubt boost our ranking. But I think making the Best Places to Work list each year since its inception in 2008 points to something more than just our benefits and amenities.

Fairness Doctrine
As much as our employees say that they enjoy working at Rand, we don't pretend that everything here is Nirvana. With 65 people who have a mix of personalities, backgrounds, and styles of working, there are bound to be conflicts and differences of opinions. So the question is not whether there will be problems, but rather, how do you handle them? On that count, I believe we do extremely well.

Our employees may not agree with every decision we make, but I think most of them would say they are treated fairly and that we try to balance what's best for the individual employee with what's best for the company as a whole. I also think Rand's management has shown we don't have a hidden agenda and that we are who we say we are and do what we say we will do. As a result, our loyalty to employees has been returned to Rand—with interest.

Money Is Not the Object
Of course, compensation also plays a role in employee satisfaction. Rand maintains a salary structure that helps us attract and retain talented people while keeping us competitive in the rates we charge clients. But we've never tried to buy employees' happiness or use gigantic salaries to compensate for intolerable working conditions. If money is the main reason you get someone to work for your company, you risk their jumping ship whenever another firm dangles a little bit more in front of them. Fortunately that's not a problem at Rand.

Making the Best Places to Work list also reminds me that while I'm Rand's president, I'm also an employee. Being part of a team that relies on one another to solve problems keeps me connected to the daily challenges that each staff member faces. And belonging to a group of people who enjoy working together and take pride in what Rand does is what makes coming to the office every day worthwhile for me. Because the best places to work are the ones with the best people by your side.

Benchmarking Reports Due by December 31

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Peter Scallion

Before you and your building settle in for a long winter's nap, be sure you've submitted your property's benchmarking report.

Quick refresher: Under New York City's Local Law 84/09, owners of properties larger than 50,000 square feet are required to submit their building's energy use (electricity, gas, and fuel oil or steam) every year. The utilities data from the previous year must be entered into the EPA's Portfolio Manager website.

The benchmarking law took effect this year as part of the city's Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, and the reports were originally due May 1. The city has given property owners until December 31 to submit their reports, after which they face a $500 penalty. Benchmarking reports for 2012 and subsequent years are due every May 1.

Last month the Department of Buildings sent warning letters to building owners who did not submit their benchmarking reports by August 1. If you submitted your building's benchmark report and still received this letter it may be because:

You submitted the report after August 1. If you received a confirmation email from the EPA, your building has complied and there is nothing further to do.
The borough, block, and lot (BBL) for your building was entered incorrectly or not at all. If you benchmarked before August 1, check the confirmation email to ensure the BBL is correct. If the BBL is wrong, simply enter the correct BBL and resubmit the report by December 31.

If you are not sure whether your building is 50,000 square feet or larger, check the list of buildings required to comply with Local Law 84/09. You can also visit the DOB's website for benchmarking FAQs and more information. According to the DOB, 60 to 70 percent of the buildings on the list have submitted their benchmarking report.

Benchmarking energy and water use enables owners, managers, and residents to better understand their buildings' performance and identify energy efficiency improvements that will save your building money. More than just the law, it's smart building operation.

So if your building hasn't submitted its benchmarking report, now's the time to do so. Then you can sleep in heavenly peace.

A “Real Life Architect” Goes Back to School

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Lynne Funk, AIA

I recently had the pleasure of visiting a fifth-grade class at the Bloomingdale School (P.S. 145) on West 105^th Street in Manhattan and talking to the students about what it's like to be a "real life architect."

The students participate in Keeping the Past for the Future, an architecture and preservation appreciation course offered at Upper West Side schools through Landmark West, a non-profit historic preservation group. Their teacher is Samantha Deutsch, who Landmark West honored this summer as an "Unsung Hero" for inspiring students (and teachers) to learn about the buildings in their neighborhood and the importance of preservation. As part of the course, Samantha leads her students on guided tours of the landmarks and historic buildings surrounding their school, using the local architecture to reinforce classroom learning.

Before my visit, the fifth graders had observed nearby row houses and their varied ornamentation. Each student was given an outline of a row house elevation, adding details at cornice level, around the windows, and at the stoop. I brought a set of plans from one of Rand's projects at a nearby building and explained how the details for facades and roofing systems are drawn and scaled.

: Rand Architect Lynne Funk explains the details of building design to a class of budding preservationists at the Bloomingdale School (P.S. 145).

Samantha's success in engaging the kids to learn about buildings and architecture was reflected in their questions: Some of the many questions they asked were: How long does a project takes from start to finish? (From a couple of weeks to a couple of months—or sometimes even years.) Who else beside the architect works on a building? (Engineers, masons, carpenters, roofers, plumbers, electricians, et al.) What's a cornice for? (Mostly ornamental, but it also keeps water from dripping on the facade.) What should you study if you want to be an architect? (Math, design, art, writing, history.)

They were also very interested in what makes buildings stand up—and why they sometimes fall down. To explain how structural supports function, Samantha pointed to the vertical columns and horizontal beams in the classroom, and I described how concrete is reinforced with steel in buildings and how this system differs form the load-bearing walls in the row houses they drew.

I come from a family of engineers, but I loved to draw and to write, so my father steered me toward architecture. I would have loved to have been in a class like Samantha's when I was in elementary school. Based on the enthusiasm I saw in her students, I have a feeling I was looking at some future "real life architects."

Surviving the Gut Renovation Next Door

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Grace Davies

As the wife of Rand's president, I have been around building construction in New York City for more than 25 years and appreciate the energy and vitality of urban revitalization. So when our new neighbors decided to gut renovate the dilapidated brownstone next door, I was thrilled.

Since I work at home, I volunteered to be their onsite eyes and ears while they were away during the day. I assured them I understood what was involved with a renovation project, and that they would be delighted at my level of cooperation and Zen-like spirit.

That was then. Now, four months, one call to the Buildings Department, and several red-faced tirades in my pajamas later, the eyes and ears I volunteered have taken a beating.

: Gut feeling: A major renovation next door will run you ragged if you let it.

But though my Zen-like spirit was down, it wasn't out. I've since developed a coping plan that hopefully will see me through the rest of the project. Here's my advice to those faced with a similar situation:

The noise and vibrations during demolition can be worse than you possibly could have imagined. Plan to be away from the house as much as possible during this phase—no earplugs can block out the sound, and your nerves will be frazzled.
Once the construction work begins, the noise may still get loud at times, but it is more sporadic and less psychologically discomforting than it is during demolition. Though I usually like to work in silence, I found playing music when the noise gets loud helps me focus back on my work. If music doesn't do it, a walk around the block may clear your head.
Although it may seem unneighborly, don't offer to help. In fact, try to keep the construction work out of your life as much as possible. If you don't, it won't take long for it to disrupt—and possibly take over—your normal routine. Be polite, but don't grant favors that intrude on your privacy or time. And put up curtains!
Find out at the start of the project who you should contact if there's a problem and get a hold of that person as soon as there's an issue. Keep a record of your complaints in case the condition hasn't been corrected in a reasonable amount of time.
Don't sweat the small stuff. If the work crew forgets to sweep up one day, let it go. Save your anger and energy for the big items—the things that are unsafe or unethical.

Remind yourself that after all the disruption is over and the project is completed, your property values will go up and you'll see a beautifully restored building next door and not an eyesore. Plus you'll have new neighbors to trade construction war stories with for years to come.

Infrared Eye for Detecting Leaks

Posted on November 11, 2011 by John Monroe, RA

With the recent storms and heavy rains, my Rand coworkers and I have been extra busy conducting leakage evaluations. To assist us in our investigations, we've been incorporating infrared technology.

An infrared camera has a sensor that detects temperature differences in the area being photographed and shows them as different colors. When water evaporates it cools, and the cooler areas appear as purple in the infrared images. We then visually inspect those locations to confirm that there is, in fact, water present.

The dark purple areas in this infrared photo indicate cooler spots, where water was leaking in.

Since taking a certification course in infrared building investigations a few weeks ago, I've been using the infrared camera more and more and it's been very helpful. For example, at one building where I was investigating leaks, water had damaged elevator electrical equipment, ceilings, and walls. As I would normally do, I went on the roof to look for any obvious issues that could be causing the leaks. I saw a bunch of problems: ponding (puddles), a blistering roof membrane, and missing counterflashing (a metal strip that keeps water from entering between the edge of the roofing membrane and the parapet wall).

Although the roof defects looked like they were contributing to the leaks in the elevator room (above photo), they didn't appear to be the cause of the water damage in a bathroom and bedroom several floors below. Based on the location of the damage, one possibility was that water was leaking from behind the elevator shaft. I took several infrared photos of the elevator shaft to see what might appear. Sure enough, there were streaky purple areas in the image (below), which indicated that water was running down the shaft and into the bathroom and bedroom with the affected areas.

The infrared camera detected water (purple) behind this elevator shaft, helping pinpoint the source of the leaks, confirmed through an investigative probe.

To confirm that it was a leak we were seeing in the infrared photo, and to figure out where it might be coming from, I asked the contractor to conduct an investigative probe into the bathroom wall on the 14^th floor. When we opened up the wall we saw a crack in the hub on a plumbing riser, which was overflowing with water. The water was then traveling down from floor to floor through the riser penetrations, ending up at the 11^th floor bathroom ceiling, where the damage was evident.

Thanks to the infrared images, we were able to pinpoint the source of the leak more quickly than if I conducted just a visual survey. Plus, we needed to conduct only one investigative probe instead of several, so we saved our client both time and money.

The infrared technology is not a miracle tool, of course. You still have to perform a visual examination to confirm that the purple spots are water related and possibly use a moisture meter and conduct investigative probes when necessary. Some spots that appear as purple in the infrared photos may not be water—they could be cooler areas caused by drafts or missing insulation, for example. But even in those cases, the infrared camera helps point out heat and energy losses that should be looked at.

The infrared camera that Rand uses (FLIR ThermaCAM T300) is not cheap—it cost $8,300 (which, adding in the cost of the training, led Rand's president to joke about the leaks in Rand's expenses). But given the number of leakage investigations that Rand does and the advantage we think the camera provides, we see it as a worthwhile investment that will pay off for us and for our clients. I'm now taking my Level II thermography training and looking forward to learning advanced diagnostic techniques, which I will write about in a future post.

If your building has had a leak investigation using an infrared camera, I'd be interested in hearing how it went, so please leave a comment below. I'm also happy to answer any questions you have on the technology, so feel free to contact me at i...@randpc.com.

Inspecting a Facade with Lion Eyes

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Albelisa Gonzalez

One of the things I love about my job as a project associate is seeing interesting architectural details up close. While recently conducting a 7th Cycle Local Law 11/98 facade inspection at 56 East 87th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan I got an eyeful.

: A terra cotta relief is one of the building's main decorative elements.

The Beaux Arts building was formerly known as "The King," after Joseph King, who constructed it in 1910. Although it falls just outside the Carnegie Hill Historic District, the building nonetheless has a rich architectural style. Decorative terra cotta features abound, including quoins, garlands, cartouches, splayed lintels, and a basket handle with an elliptical arch and egg-and-dart trim. There's also an ornamental cornice with modillions and dentils, and iron grille doors at the entrance. Even the iron fire escapes have character.

: The ornamental cornice, terra cotta quoins, and splayed lintels give the building a rich aesthetic style, as does the decorative iron fire escapes.

My favorite element, however, was the lion head relief. While conducting a hands-on examination from the scaffold on the sixth floor, I ran my fingers over the lion's terra cotta face and mane, appreciating the aesthetic details. As the majestic figure stared straight ahead impassively, it occurred to me that this impressive-looking building could have been called "The King" for quite another reason.

Gloom With a View

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Lynne Funk, AIA

Rainy days and Thursdays don't always get me down. After meeting a manufacturer's rep to review a recently completed roof replacement project at a 14-story building on West End Avenue yesterday morning, I paused to appreciate the gloomy allure around me.

UWS rainy day LF

The view offers the characteristic contrast of yesterday's and today's New York: Across the street, a stately limestone and terra cotta decorated building with a mansard roof, and in the distance, new gleaming brash towers along Broadway.

I stood for just a minute after taking the photo from the fire escape. A dated sign on the railing warned "Any one placing any incumbrance on this balcony will be fined ten dollars." I didn't want to risk it.

The Problem with White-Brick Buildings

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Peter Scallion

Prewar buildings have charm, elegance, and gracious space, whereas new construction is sleek and sophisticated and features lots of amenities. So what can be said about those postwar white glazed-brick buildings with their distinctive wedding cake shape?

: Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times

Bland on the outside but functional on the inside, these stolid structures, built in the 1950s and early '60s, earned a reputation worthy of that "Father Knows Best" era: Not flashy or sexy, admittedly, but sensible, decent, and reliable—the "nice guy" with whom you could settle down and have a comfortable, if not necessarily exciting, life.

As it turns out, the nice guy hasn't aged well.

A recent article in The New York Times discusses how some of these buildings are falling apart, brick by white brick. The deterioration isn't caused by the brick's color, however, but by its glaze, which prevents water that gets trapped behind the bricks from evaporating.

The glazed-brick design was supposed to make the buildings more waterproof, but the concept "backfired," according to the head of Rand's building survey team, Jon Colatrella. As Jon explained to the Times: "Once that moisture gets trapped in between those two materials, essentially it freezes over time and it just starts to spall and pop and crack that front face right off."

In other words, the frosting is falling off the wedding cake.

Rand has worked on its share of white glazed-brick buildings over the years—there are about 140 of them in the city, according to the Times—and we can attest to their defective facades and the leaks they engender. Dozens of these buildings are now facing massive exterior repair projects, some involving "reskinning"—i.e., completely removing and rebuilding the facades with new (non-glazed) bricks. Jon estimates that a full brick replacement on a 20- to 25-story building would cost approximately $6 million to $8 million dollars. That's one expensive refrosting.

Of course, white-brick buildings have their defenders, as this other Times article points out. "Nobody walks in and says, 'I can't wait to buy an apartment in a white-brick building,'" says one real estate consultant quoted by the Times. "But after they see the entire marketplace, the white bricks start to look interesting. You get more bang for your buck."

Is the honeymoon over for these wedding-cake-shape buildings? If you live in or manage one, we'd love to hear your view.

Exploring Prospect Park South

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Valerie Landriscina

: Prospect Park South was designated an Historic District in 1979.

Last Sunday a group of my Rand coworkers and I met at Church Avenue in Brooklyn for a walking tour of the Prospect Park South Historic District. It was the second walking tour that we've done as a group (the first was of the Clinton Hill Historic District in June), both of them organized by Rand Project Associate Maria Arutunyan and led by Pratt Institute professor Bob Pelosi.

Bob gave us an informative overview of how the Prospect Park South neighborhood was designed in 1899, and how it has been successfully (and in some cases, less successfully) maintained through the 20th and into the 21st century. He told us how Dean Alvord, the neighborhood's visionary developer, established guidelines for the community, such as building freestanding houses with 30-foot setbacks from the street, and explained the importance of balancing symmetry and asymmetry within a building's composition.

We also learned that the location and development of the community were influenced by its proximity to the Brighton Beach train station. You can see how the scale and detail of the houses decrease as one moves farther away from the hub of the station.

I love the colors of the houses and was glad to see how the porch as a functional space has survived in this neighborhood. (Other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, such as Ditmas Park, haven't been as lucky.) I also enjoyed seeing the creative designs of the roof overhangs, lanterns, chimney support brackets, and porch and balcony railings, many of which define this neighborhood but fall between the rigid categories of architectural styles.

: The juxtaposition of grandeur and asymmetry is seen in this house on Beverly Road, one of the smaller homes farther from the train station.

We were happily surprised when a homeowner on Buckingham Road offered to show us inside his home—a beautiful white, two-story Ionic columned house. He explained his various restoration projects (some completed, others in progress) to restore the original features based on a set of blueprints from 1900. He also told us how Mary Kay Gallagher, a long-time real estate broker from the area who specializes in Flatbush's Victorian homes, was hugely influential in getting Prospect Park South designated a New York City Historic District in 1979.

: The owner of this house on Buckingham Road invited us in, told us about his renovation projects, and gave us a history lesson on the neighborhood.

The New York Times architectural historian Christopher Gray wrote a wonderful column in 2008 on Albemarle Road, Prospect Park South's main boulevard. The article includes a slideshow that features both modern and historic photos of homes along "Brooklyn's Stately Esplanade."

You can view more photos from our tour (taken by my colleague Mike Langwell) on Rand's Facebook page.

Looking forward to our next historic tour!