Improving the Built Environment through Research, Design, and Technology

Criteria Development

SWA, under contract to the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD), developed the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) for Sustainable Development. The purpose of this project was to assist the DoD in its efforts to design and build sustainable, high quality facilities. The document provides information for all DoD project team members on how to get an understanding of sustainable development principles and how the principles can be applied to specific projects.

The Sustainable Development UFC also provides a clear explanation of the requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. The explanations ensure that Federal project managers can respond appropriately.

The key to providing a sustainable facility is the integrated design process. The integrated design, or “whole building,” approach involves interaction between all issues, objectives and life-cycle requirements, as well as between the customer, user, designer, consultants, and Opportunities to achieve a high performance facilitycontractor early on and throughout the project development process. This fosters a multidisciplinary project team and allows them to develop creative solutions that yield multiple benefits.

SWA staff has developed UFCs for the DoD on a variety of subjects.

Federal Guide Specifications

SWA staff, under contract to the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) was contracted to develop specifications on two key systems: Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS) and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) for its Unified Facilities Guide Specification (UFGS). Federal agencies rely on up-to-date, detailed guide specifications to ensure quality is built into all facility construction projects.

SWA’s effort entailed conducting a significant amount of research into the CCTV operatorlatest technology from leading manufacturers, combining the requirements of the individual military services into one comprehensive document. In addition, SWA produced a Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG) resource page on the subject (www.wbdg.org).

[UFGS 13750, Closed Circuit Television Systems] [ UFGS 16262, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)].

Improving the built environment through research, sustainable design and technology. © 2008 Steven Winter Associates, Inc.