Understand the systems behind your building's next transition
A building cannot plan an intelligent transition if nobody knows what is installed, what capacity exists, how the systems connect, what has already been changed, or what the evidence actually supports.
This is an evidence view, not an energy audit, a federal home-energy evaluation, an engineering assessment, an electrical study or a code review. It produces no grade.
What better records can support
Documentation does not reduce emissions. It supports decisions that may lead to efficiency, electrification, resilience and less waste, which is a smaller claim and a true one.
- Longer appropriate service life, where a system is maintained rather than replaced by default
- Better maintenance timing
- Less waste from documentation that has been lost and has to be recreated
- Fewer duplicate assessments of the same building
- More informed retrofit design
- Continuity through ownership and staff changes
- Preservation of commissioning and performance evidence
- A way to see whether funded work remains documented over time
- Better measurement later, because there is a baseline to measure against
- Better coordination between owners, contractors and programs
How much is known about a system
Most confusion about building performance comes from collapsing these into one. Each is a claim about certainty, and evidence of any one of them establishes none of the others.
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Installed
The system is physically present.
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Documented
There is paperwork identifying it.
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Commissioned
It was set up and verified at startup, with a record of it.
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Operating
It runs today. A document does not establish this.
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Measured
Its behaviour has been metered or recorded over time.
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Performance interpreted
Someone has drawn a conclusion from that. The interpretation always names its basis: observed, measured, modelled or otherwise sourced.
What to do next is a separate question
These are decisions, not later stages of certainty. Being suitable for expansion is not a more advanced version of being worth replacing, and neither is something a record arrives at on its own.
- Information incomplete Not enough is known to plan anything yet.
- Retain and monitor Keep it, keep records, revisit.
- Investigate improvement Worth a closer look by someone qualified.
- Potentially suitable for expansion Subject to a qualified assessment of capacity.
- Replacement planning indicated A decision, reached by people, not produced by a record.
The Building Transition Profile
A structured view of what is installed and what the record covers, category by category. It is not a score, and no category can fail. Missing documentation is reported as missing documentation.
- present and documented The system is there and there is paperwork for it.
- present but incompletely documented The system is there. Some of the record is missing.
- not identified Nothing identified it. That is not the same as absent.
- not applicable Not relevant to this building.
- undetermined Not enough information either way.
Current energy systems
- Heating Condition result available Assessed under the accepted method where the evidence supports it.
- Cooling Condition result available Assessed under the accepted method where the evidence supports it.
- Domestic water heating Condition result available Assessed under the accepted method where the evidence supports it.
- Ventilation Evidence only Recorded and documented. No condition result is produced.
Electrification systems
- Air-source heat pump Evidence only The words "heat pump" establish nothing about efficiency or cold-weather suitability. Those need documentation or a qualified assessment.
- Cold-climate air-source heat pump Evidence only A cold-climate rating is a documented product characteristic, not an inference from the category.
- Ground-source or geothermal heat pump Evidence only Unit, loop field and flow centre are separate identities.
- Water-source heat pump Evidence only
- Ductless mini-split Evidence only Indoor and outdoor identities stay separate.
- Multi-split Evidence only
- Central ducted heat pump Evidence only
- Heat-pump water heater Evidence only Not an electric storage water heater and not an HVAC heat pump. Three separate identities.
- Hybrid or dual-fuel system Evidence only Both heat sources and the changeover control are recorded separately.
On-site generation
- Solar photovoltaic Evidence only Rated capacity is a nameplate figure. Production, savings, payback and remaining life are not estimated here.
- Inverter or microinverter Evidence only Its own identity. An inverter is replaced on a different cycle from the array it serves, and may serve storage rather than solar.
- Grid interconnection Record only Separate from the inverter. The agreement with the utility changes independently of the equipment, and one is not evidence of the other.
- Solar thermal Evidence only A separate system class from solar photovoltaic. They heat and generate respectively, and are never merged.
Energy storage
- Battery energy storage Record only Safety-sensitive. Runtime, remaining capacity, fire safety and useful life are not predicted, and nothing here tells anyone to open, isolate, repair, reset or energize a battery system.
EV infrastructure
- Load management Evidence only Its own identity. Load management is often what makes an installation permissible, and it can be reconfigured without any charger changing.
- EV charging Evidence only Chargers on site establish neither environmental performance nor capacity for more. Additional capacity needs a professional load calculation.
Electrical capacity evidence
- Electrical service and distribution Evidence only Spare capacity is never calculated from a panel rating minus breaker labels. It requires a qualified assessment with demand context.
Controls and metering
- Controls and automation Evidence only Credentials, network addresses and other security-sensitive control details are never recorded or displayed here.
- Submetering Record only
- Commissioning record Record only Its own identity, not an attribute of the equipment it covers. A commissioning record can exist, be lost, or be superseded independently of the system it describes.
Envelope improvements
- Insulation, air sealing and glazing Evidence only Envelope performance is never inferred from age or appearance. A blower-door result or a thermal imaging report is evidence; a photograph of a wall is not.
- Roof Condition result available Assessed under the accepted method where the evidence supports it.
Water and heat recovery
- Heat and energy recovery ventilation Evidence only Energy recovery and indoor air quality are related but distinct. Recorded separately.
- Drain-water heat recovery Record only
- Water conservation and leak detection Record only Water conservation is recorded separately from energy recovery. The two are not the same benefit.
- Rainwater capture and greywater Record only
Resilience systems
- Standby or portable generator connection Record only Backup duration and disaster readiness are not claimed. Nothing here instructs anyone to operate, connect or service generating equipment.
- Critical-load panel and UPS Record only Which loads are supported is recorded only where documentation says so.
Only the systems marked with a condition result are assessed by the method. Everything else is recorded, documented and reported honestly as evidence. Nothing receives an invented result to make a report look complete.
Before a major change
What is commonly needed before adding chargers, installing solar or storage, replacing combustion heating, upgrading controls, or entering an efficiency program. This is a sequence, not a recommendation, and it calculates nothing.
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Identify existing systems
What is actually installed, before anything is designed around an assumption.
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Collect available documentation
Invoices, permits, manuals, commissioning records, previous assessments.
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Record electrical and mechanical dependencies
What a change would touch. This is where most retrofit surprises come from.
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Identify the information gaps
Naming what is missing is more useful than estimating around it.
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Obtain qualified assessments where required
Electrical capacity, structural questions and combustion work need a professional. A record cannot substitute.
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Compare options using current evidence
Against what is documented, not against a category assumption.
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Preserve permits, commissioning and completion records
The evidence that the work happened, and how it was set up.
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Continue tracking maintenance and outcomes
So the next decision starts further along than this one did.
Six kinds of performance
A truthfulness ladder for retrofit and performance claims. These are routinely collapsed into one number in project documents, marketing and funding reports, and the collapse is where disputes start. No level automatically becomes another.
- Proposed performanceWhat a proposal says the equipment will do.
- Manufacturer-rated performanceWhat the product literature states under test conditions.
- Modeled performanceA calculation from assumptions. The assumptions matter as much as the result.
- Commissioned performanceWhat was measured at startup, by whoever commissioned it.
- Measured performanceWhat the building actually does over time, with metering.
- Verified outcomeMeasured against a baseline, by someone accountable for the method.
Bring better building evidence into your next project
An ICI can give an organization a clearer starting point before a retrofit, replacement or capital project: which systems are installed, what the available information supports and what is still missing. That evidence can help shape a stronger project scope and define what the successful trade partner should document and return at closeout.
Organizations may use ICI information to help prepare:
- Retrofit scopes
- Equipment-replacement projects
- Capital plans
- Contractor requirements
- Commissioning expectations
- Project closeout requirements
- Solar, storage and EV projects
- Fuel-switching and heat-pump planning
- Grant- or program-supported work
A stronger record from every trade partner
Contractors already collect valuable information during installation, service and commissioning. When the project defines that evidence clearly, and the completed work stays connected to the equipment, the trade partner can deliver more than a job sheet. They can leave the owner with a record that supports maintenance, warranties, future replacements and the next project.
- A clearer scope before bidding
- Fewer undocumented assumptions
- Consistent evidence expectations across projects
- Attribution of completed work
- Stronger commissioning and closeout
- Fewer later searches for model, serial, warranty or install information
- A more useful handover to the customer
- Evidence that survives staff and software changes
Infrastructure Condition Index does not verify workmanship, certify contractors, rank bids or guarantee resilience. There is no contractor score here and there will not be one.
Infrastructure Condition Index and energy evaluations
Energy evaluations help explain energy performance under their applicable method. Infrastructure Condition Index focuses on the building systems and evidence behind future decisions: what is installed, what is documented, what the condition method can support and what should be preserved as the building changes.
They answer different questions, and one does not substitute for the other. Infrastructure Condition Index issues no energy rating and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or equivalent to any energy evaluation programme. Official programmes are listed, with the date each was checked, on the official resources page, and regional context sits on resilience and preparedness page.
Discuss your project
Harmelo can help organizations apply ICI evidence to a building, portfolio, retrofit or procurement project and define the records required through delivery and closeout.
Scoped professional work, which may include establishing the current building-system baseline, identifying evidence gaps, scoping equipment documentation requirements, preparing a project-specific evidence schedule, defining contractor submission and closeout requirements, organizing commissioning and warranty records, documenting solar, battery, EV and electrification systems, and preserving completed-project evidence. None of it is automated, and an inquiry begins a conversation rather than producing a quote.