Testing Services: Commission Testing
Conducting
commission testing, or performance validation,
is simply field testing of new installations. Commissioning of indoor
surfaces
is common within Europe, and it is common on new infilled artificial
turf systems within North America.
Having the performance of your new facility validated will ensure that
your
sport surface delivers the performance that was promised to you during
the sale. Commission testing is appropriate for basketball, volleyball,
aerobics, multi-purpose and multi-sport facilities. Remember,
suitability testing is only an indication of the
performance that your floor will deliver. Actual performance can be
effected by a wide variety of factors.
Facilities that frequently host high level competitions, such as
professional and collegiate facilities, should consider having all
performance criteria validated or commissioned. The performance of sports
surfaces in these facilities may effect the health and comfort of athletes.
In these installations the health and comfort of even a single athlete can
have large financial impacts on a sports franchise or institution.
High-school and recreational centers should consider having two or more
performance criteria commissioined or validated. These facilities typically impact a
vast number of people over the life of the surface. As an example, a
sports floor or gymnasium at a mid-sized high-school may conservatively
impact the lives of 30,000 people during a usable life of 50 years.
Any project that has included performance levels within their project
specification should, at a minimum, allow for the option of commission
testing. Allowing for the option gives facilities flexibility while
still helping to ensure that installers follow the necessary steps to
provide the promised performance.
Compensation
Today, most architects fail to even consider performance validation
of indoor court surfaces. The simple truth is that the industry has not
explained that suitability testing does little, if anything, to insure
that proper performance is delivered to individual installations. This
leads many architects to assume that specifying suitability, or
preliminary performance insures that the floor will actually perform
to those levels. Sadly, there are installers within the industry who
have figured this out and who have learned that they can cut corners
during their installations.
When proper attention is not given to the installation details, the
actual performance will fail to meet preliminary levels. With the
structure of current project specifications, the only ones who suffer
any
consequences are the athletes and users of the surfaces and the reputation of the facility or
institution. Combining
commission testing results with compensation clauses within
your project specification will allow you to transfer some of the
consequences for poor performance back to the installer, and to help
ensure proper attention to the details.
Compensation clauses and performance deviations can be developed to
achieve a variety of goals. ASET would be glad to discuss your
commission testing goals and help you establish appropriate performance
deviation and compensation levels. Simply
contact us for more information and with any questions you may
have.