2022 VCA Annual Report - Facilities Services

Facilities Services works 24-hours a day, 365 days a year to maintain a UC Berkeley campus environment that is conducive to teaching, learning, and research. In FY21, Facilities Services completed more than 49,000 preventive and reactive work orders. Their FY21 Operating Results & FY22 Budget can be found here.

The department strives to continuously improve the campus in partnership with all members of the University community to ensure that classrooms, laboratories, and offices are all maintained and function well. Facilities Services maintains more than 11 million square feet of building space on the Berkeley campus as well as 3,800 trees and 33 acres of lawn on 1,085 acres on campus. As part of this endeavor, Facilities manages and maintains more than 200,000 separate pieces of equipment. Facilities Services consists of: asset management program, Cal Zero Waste program, custodial services, engineering and technical services,environmental services, grounds operations, inspection services, maintenance services, and administrative units.

Facilities Services is under the leadership of Sally McGarrahan, Associate Vice Chancellor.

Below, you can see Facilities Services summaries:

Delivering electricity to power teaching and research

Electricity is at the heart of everything UC Berkeley does. The reliable delivery of electricity to all campus locations is of paramount importance to the University’s mission. During the 2020-21 academic year, the existing turbine in the campus power plant had reached the end of its service life and required replacement. Rather than replace the turbine in kind, Facilities Services worked closely with our plant operator to identify and install a much more efficient turbine. The replacement provides a 6% reduction in NG usage and saves the campus more than 1 million gallons per month in average water use. The replacement will also result in a 6,500 MT reduction of CO2 emissions and NOx and CO emissions will be less than 1/2 of previous levels.

Navigating COVID-19

Helping the campus successfully navigate COVID-19 continued to be a focus for Facilities Services throughout the 2020-21 academic year.. Facilities created the COVID-19 Supplies Replenishment Request Center to quickly and easily provide supplies to campus departments during the pandemic. The Request Center began operating in July 2020 in partnership with the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) team in Environmental Health & Safety.

The Center delivered nearly 1,000 disinfectant buckets and refills; dozens of disinfectant spray bottles and hundreds of refills; nearly 700 rolls of paper towels, and more than 1,300 hand sanitizer bottles to campus. Custodial Services operated an online ordering system and delivered supplies to hundreds of locations on campus.

Engineering and Technical Services

The EMS Group oversaw the introduction of the ALC building management system in many campus buildings; incorporated Alerton, a new building mgmt. system; and re-configured building controls to provide 100% outside air for COVID response.
Fire Sprinkler Fitters inspected and tested systems throughout campus. More than 350 fire sprinklers were backflow tested; more than 100 had NFPA Annual inspections. This team also performed 5-year inspections, fire pump service, and system shutdowns.
The Fire Alarm Group serviced and maintained more than 150 fire alarm systems and fire extinguishers on campus. During the year, they also migrated four campus buildings to new XLS fire alarm systems. The group assisted in testing 126 smoke guard fire curtains and programming/testing more than 30 tenant improvement projects; upgraded UCPDs SIS alarm monitoring system; and assisted in testing all the fire dampers in Stanley Hall and Hearst Memorial Mining Building. Also during the year, this group commissioned the fire alarm systems in Giannini and Morgan Halls; assisted in testing more than 80 Cookson roll down doors; and started converting the fire systems reporting from phone lines to cellular radios with a saving of $45 a month per building.
The STATPM Group completed appox. 8,000 preventative maintenance work orders.

Asset Management

The Asset Management Team continues to be focused on the campus' aging infrastructure, assessment, and prioritizing replacements. The Team works closely with campus and UCOP partners to provide the effective data and reasoned approach to asset management to support the UC mission.
Asset Management and the Integrated Campus Asset Management Program (ICAMP) has completed its initial assessment of more than 11 million square feet of State supported facilities. The team has begun the collection of condition in formation on campus utility systems for the next phase of the ICAMP Program.
The Team completed a global evaluation of the Maximo system asset classification, ownership groups, and equipment identifications. The Asset Management Data Analytics Team continues to provide departmental operational metric data, expense tracking, recharge data, and Maximo (CMMS) system analytic reporting. The Data Team has also provided critical support to the annual Capital Financial Plan report process, operational expense modeling, and managing the ongoing ICAMP assessment efforts.

Maintenance Operations

Facilities Services skilled trades shops are critical to the continued performance of the campus environment. During the 2020-21 academic year, Facilities moved existing staff to cover the swing shift, resulting in reduced overtime costs and operational improvements.

The skilled trade shops subject matter experts routinely collaborate with Capital Projects, campus architects, and mechanical design engineers for new construction planning and plan reviews. They provide input on mechanical design and anticipated sequence of operations for projects to add value and improve performance.

To support energy and water conservation, the mechanical and electrical staff have regularly collaborated with the Facilities Services Energy Office to assist with operational changes and building equipment modifications.

Throughout the year, the shops complete numerous critical repairs and projects across campus. In 2020-21, these included the following:

The Abatement Team performed multiple water loss remediation and build back projects in campus buildings (Cal, Wurster, Davis, and Koshland Halls, Berkeley Way West, Haas Business School, and Regatta).
Carpenters removed/reinstalled the large projection screen in Valley Life Sciences and performed signage removal/installation for building name changes including LeConte Hall, now Physics South; Barrows Hall, now the Social Sciences Building; and Kroeber Hall, now the Anthropology and Art Practice Building.
The Electric Shop Installed 37 smart sensors on critical equipment in Chou Hall, Berkeley Way West, Haas Faculty Building, Li Ka Shing, and North West Animal Facility. Additionally, they successfully supported the Cogen Island Test, an experiment testing the campus electrical system.
The Elevator Shop supported the smoothest RSSP move-in in several years, helping to give new students and their families a good initial experience while moving into the dorms.
The Glazier Team removed broken windows from Berkeley Way West 6-7th floors and changed the functioning of 2nd floor windows of Dwinelle to improve ventilation to address COVID concerns.
The Fleet Team continued Berkeley’s transition of our fleet to alternative fuel vehicles and improved the brake and safety inspection program. Facilities Services deploys hundreds of trucks and special vehicles to maintain campus.
Facilities Services Machinists supported Berkeley’s Space Sciences Mission Control Center with an emergency generator.
The HVAC Team completed projects to provide cost savings to campus by fixing condensate receivers and heat exchangers at various buildings including Hesse and Evans.
The Locksmiths initiated rekeying the machine rooms across the campus as well as the English Department and Woo Han Fai Bio Bakar Institute.
The Painters provided COVID-19 signage on campus and kept it current with Berkeley Public Health Department requirements. The team also re-striped Centennial Dr. from Stadium Rim Way up to Grizzly Peak Blvd. Plus, they designed the new Firetrail and Ecological Study Area signs and installed 34 around the trails in Berkeley Hills. These signs included specific locations for UCPD and other emergency responses.
The Plumbing Shop maintained the water systems by testing and flushing campus buildings and maintained and serviced all the DI systems.
Roofers installed a new roof and refurbished the planters on Pimentel Hall; refurbished the Recreational Sports Facility middle roof; performed the NWAF 206 and 206A waterproofing system replacement; Doe Annex chiller room 675 and 675A; and the Cory Hall Tea House roof replacement.
Senior Building Maintenance Workers inspected and changed lighting after “shelter in place” to prepare for re-occupancy of campus buildings.
The Sheet Metal Team replaced the ductless air conditioning system for the telescope at SSLA.
The WATCH Team, with 24/7 presence, addressed ventilation issues to provide outside air and air changes to the campus buildings as faculty/students returned to campus. The team also located multiple failed fire dampers in Stanley Hall that were causing air imbalance and fan failures. Plus, this team tested and calibrated 3,000 hoods and related exhaust fans in research labs throughout campus.
High Voltage Electricians (HVT) replaced an outdated and at-risk underground Trayer switch with an above-ground Cooper switch. This team also used switch replacement downtime to perform maintenance on all the High Voltage gear in affected buildings without impacting building operations. During the downtime, the team discovered several deficiencies to address. A critical discovery was found at the sub 4 transformer: three 12,000 volt wires on the primary side of the Transformer were burnt. Undiscovered, this condition would have eventually caused a power outage resulting an entire quadrant of the campus being without power for an extended time.
Equipment Operators and Masons collaborated with local police and fire departments to reduce the risk of fires on Grizzly Peak peak by placing logs on turnouts in the road.
The Utility Steamfitters and Equipment Operators introduced the use of infrared technology to locate a steam and condensate leak 6' underground encased inside of a concrete envelope. The infrared camera was used to shoot the road below from the Campbell Hall roof. Using this device saved many hours of labor. Images from the infrared camera and the subsequent repair shown below:

Facilities Services Administrative Groups

These groups supported the efforts of Facilities Services field staff by processing over 49,000 work orders.

Facilities Services IT (FS IT)

The FS IT team resolved more than 1,100 service request tickets. The GIS staff implemented Enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) to provide electronic access to campus infrastructure.
The FS IT Operations staff also provided remote access to the Cogen control system allowing the removal of the outside trailer; assisted getting network access for General Electric remote connection via VPN to control the turbine within Cogen, and processed hundreds of computer inventory replacements; upgrading to accommodate remote work.
The Maximo staff implemented numerous enhancements to improve the computer maintenance management system (CMMS).

Campus Operations

Fire mitigation continued its efforts on campus, including the Hill campus, to provide defensible space and evacuation routes in the event of a fire. The Team completed the Claremont Fire Evacuation Project and started the Jordan Fire Trail Project. Fire Mitigation updated our Evacuation Signage on the Hill campus in collaboration with campus partners as well as the Cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Orinda.
Landscape Services completed campus beautification projects without the use of chemicals throughout campus. This included working with Be Smart about Safety to help mitigate risk by removing hazardous trees including failed tree removal at the following locations: the Greek Theatre, Tightwad Hill Social Science Building, Arch St. North Gate entrance, Senior Hall, and The West Crescent.
The Team partnered with Arbor Pro to conduct a detailed tree assessment of the campus forest. Their report showed how our tree canopy is under stress and likely to be infected by pathogens. The campus houses 731 coastal redwoods and 15 giant sequoia trees, many of which have existed in their locations for more than 100 years, while others have been more recently planted. All the trees visited exhibited various states of decline with some being effectively dead and others very close. The trees appear to be infected by one or more fungal diseases that cause needle blights and cankers. The team planted trees on campus to restore canopy and forest including a Jacaranda tree near Wheeler Hall and an Oak tree near the Social Science Building.
Zero Waste Team recycled 1,175 tons of recyclable materials, composted more than 1,078 tons, diverted 133 tons of materials from landfill to reuse, and brought 2,056 tons to landfill. Zero Waste Leaders throughout campus collaborated to help educate fans at the Pac 12 Zero Waste Football Competition on 10/23 during Zero Waste October.

Photos below: (L) Jacaranda tree being planted near Wheeler Hall, and (R), Oak tree being planted by the Social Science Building.

Image of jacaranda tree being planted near Wheeler Hall Image of oak tree being planted at the Social Science Building

Photo credit: Elena Zhukova

Photo credit: Irene Yi/UC Berkeley