Building resilience became a central focus during the pandemic when facilities worldwide shut down. As communities reopened, buildings faced challenges beyond simple transitions from unoccupied to occupied modes. Facilities required extensive environmental purging with outdoor air, thorough sanitization, air filter replacement, and often upgrades to higher-efficiency filtration systems.

Post-9/11 security measures brought significant changes, including enhanced air monitoring for hazardous and toxic particles. Chapter 61 introduced a risk evaluation process for design teams to implement during early building program planning. The chapter later expanded to include HVAC system design intent for security, and the 2023 handbook broadened this to address building resilience. Yet questions remain about how many HVAC design teams and commissioning agents have produced security and resilience design intent documents. Moreover, building owners with multiple facilities constructed in the past 20 years may be unaware if risk management and security design intent documents exist for their properties.

During a building program's inception, owners express their organization's construction or renovation needs, with design teams documenting program objectives, costs, timelines, and vision statements. However, resilience and security often take lower priority compared to carbon-neutral, decarbonization, and electrification goals.

This prioritization typically stems from cost considerations. Yet, the 2027 ASHRAE handbook update must emphasize that resilience and security are fundamental to protecting occupants and ensuring facilities can recover from crises.

From the HVAC design community's perspective, Chapter 61 can serve as a cornerstone for building programs, offering essential guidelines for creating more resilient and secure facilities:

Resilience Priorities:

• Implement sustainable material selection
• Protect materials from environmental hazards including fire, water, wind, and toxic air
• Plan for building recovery, including interior spaces, infrastructure, and post-incident decontamination

Security Measures:

• Establish clear security protocols for safe building evacuation
• Design engineering solutions for floods, fires, smoke, and air quality events
• Configure HVAC systems to support occupant security and safe evacuation
• Develop maintenance management systems for pandemic and environmental disaster recovery

With clearer definitions and practical solutions, these elements should become standard components of building programs, integrated into owners' visions for new construction investments.