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46 Blackstone Street South

Phone

617.495.0551

Fourth Floor

Fax

617.495.9409

Cambridge, MA 02139

Rockefeller Hall – Harvard Divinity School

Thermal Comfort Survey Plan

In complying with LEED New Construction v2.2 credit 7.2 Thermal Comfort, Verification, the Harvard

Divinity School (HDS) facilities team in Rockefeller Hall plans to administer occupant surveys and

adjust HVAC parameters to respond to comfort issues. This Thermal Comfort Survey Plan (TCP)

addresses occupant surveys, the scheduling of surveys, and how HDS will respond to survey results.

Occupant Thermal Comfort Survey

The HDS survey is based on requirements of the LEED New Construction version 2.2 Reference Guide

credit 7.2 Thermal Comfort, Verification as well as section 7.6 of the 2004 version of ANSI/ASHRAE

Standard 55-2007, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy and modeled after the

ASHRAE 55-2007 Informative Appendix E, Thermal Environment Survey. The survey addresses the

comfort experience in the offices and meeting rooms, the layers of clothing that the occupants are

wearing, and asks causes of discomfort , if applicable.

Administration of Survey

These surveys will be administered online via an icommons poll tracker. This service allows poll takers

to anonymously submit their answers to the poll questions. An HDS staff person will email a link to

the poll to the occupants of the building along with a cover letter explaining the intent of the survey.

Results will be compiled an analyzed by HDS staff.

Responses to Survey Results

The operations team will view survey results for each residence floor. If greater than 20% of the survey

respondents are dissatisfied, then the team will identify problem areas within the building. The team

will identify the cause of discomfort in each situation and choose from a variety of options to correct

the discomfort. For the purposes of this survey, “dissatisfied” will be defined as any responses of

“somewhat dissatisfied,” “dissatisfied,” or “very dissatisfied” to question number 7, “General thermal

comfort.”

Rockefeller Hall can be monitored via the building management system (a Siemens direct digital

control system) which is tied into temperature sensors in each floor. VAV boxes can be adjusted to

affect supply air velocity and cooling. Heating of the offices is provided by fancoil units.

Schedule of Surveys

Because different seasons activate different HVAC systems in the building, the survey will be

administered once per season. HDS staff will target especially cold winter days, mild spring days, and

hot summer/fall days at the beginning of the fall semester when choosing survey dates. Should HDS

determine corrective action is required to improve occupant comfort, the survey may be issued an

additional time within the same season to ensure the effectiveness of the corrective action.

Harvard University Divinity School Rockefeller Hall Eq Credit 7.2 - Thermal Comfort: Verification Page 3