University of Connecticut
OP-4: Building Operations and Maintenance

The Green Restaurant Certification (GRC) standards apply to operation and maintenance of existing buildings. Also, GRC standards are formally adopted, third-party verified (by the Green Restaurant Association), comprehensive standards for the sustainable operation and maintenance of existing facilities. It qualifies as a non-GBC rating system for O&M. Because these standards cover exclusively dining and kitchen facilities, they tend to be more rigorous and precisely applicable to these unique operations, thus, serve as a better metric than LEED O&M for operation and maintenance of this particular building type on college campuses. Here is a list of some of the GRC categories (note how they are parallel to LEED O&M standards but more detailed with respect to sustainable food and dining operations): Energy, Water, Waste, Disposables, Recycling, Composting, Chemicals, No Polystyrene Foam, Annual Education, Continual Change, Building.

UConn has 8 dining halls: Northwest, Towers/Gelfenbein, Whitney, Putnam, McMahon, South, Buckley, and North. Collectively, the structures that house dining units amount to more than 495,000 SF of Green Restaurant Certified building space. Northwest, Whitney, Putnam, McMahon, and North dining halls have earned GRC 4 Stars (the highest achievable rating), while South and Towers/Gelfenbein have earned 3 Stars.

Links to their specific reports can be found here:
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/rest11724
https://dinegreen.com/g/rest12188
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/res14097
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/res14127
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/res14128
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/rest13071
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/rest13072
https://www.dinegreen.com/g/rest12187

More details on the Certified Green Restaurants can be found here: https://dining.uconn.edu/certified-green/

UConn also participates in the Energy STAR for buildings. It currently has 7 EnergySTAR buildings comprising 239,518 sq. ft. of building space. Only 115,215 sq ft were included under a single attribute rating system however due to Werth Residence hall (124,303 sq ft.) also being LEED Silver Certified.

All of UConn's buildings are managed and operated in accordance with the following sustainability related policies, plans, and standards: Integrated Pest Management plan, green cleaning policy, indoor air quality protocol, and smoking policy. Furthermore energy and water consumption is monitored through building submeters at the majority of large campus buildings and ensures that leaks and other abnormalities can be addressed in a timely fashion. The Stop the Drop Campaign also encourages building occupants to report any water leaks from fixtures in buildings on campus for repair.

Indoor Air Quality Protocol for uncertified buildings:
UConn’s Indoor Air Quality Protocol is encompassed in a Building Management System (BMS) and a corresponding Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program, which have been adopted and are implemented by Facilities Operations, Trade Services/Energy Management and HVAC Shops. The BMS is not publicly accessible but the IAQ protocol is summarized in writing (see below) by UConn's EMS/HVAC Shop Supervisor.

In summary, all occupied buildings on campus have HVAC systems. Many include air handling units (AHUs) which have air filters. In most of these buildings, HVAC systems are centrally-monitored/controlled through the BMS (Building Management System), which utilizes Andover Controls (Continuum), Schneider Electric (EcoStruxure), or United Technologies (Automated Logic WebCTRL). These systems monitor building conditions and control building HVAC to maintain comfort and air quality in the most energy efficient manner possible.

In accordance with UConn’s Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program, filters are changed at regular intervals, additionally the BMS alerts Facilities Operations should filters have an excessive pressure drop indicating the maintenance schedule needs to be adjusted. Ventilation rates can also be increased in response to BMS monitoring that shows elevated CO2 concentrations in occupied areas.

For certain contractor serviced high-occupancy buildings, Facilities manually updates a spreadsheet recording when vendors changed out air filters. Periodicity is determined based on manufacturer's recommendations and system requirements.
The PM Program in Facilities is a proactive program designed to minimize failures and customer complaints.

Facilities Control Center also responds to proactive and corrective work order requests, which allows employees and other members of the campus community to submit work requests relevant to IAQ or any other building issue related to comfort and/or building condition.

Other UConn programs, policies and procedures include provisions explaining how the University prevents or mitigates common IAQ issues (smoking policy, mold guidelines, asbestos management plan, Contractor EHS Manual, High Performance Building Construction Standards—section 2.6 ). m
https://policy.uconn.edu/2011/06/02/smoking/
http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/Occupational/RegulatedBuildingMaterials/MoldCleanupGuidelines.pdf
http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/Occupational/RegulatedBuildingMaterials/AsbestosManagementPlan.pdf
http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/PoliciesProceduresForms/ContractorEHSManual.pdf
https://updc.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1525/2016/10/Volume-One-DESIGN-GUIDELINES-September-2016-rev.pdf

Facilities work order request
https://fo.uconn.edu/