Baseline was founded in October 2006 by a small group of engineering professionals with many years of experience in the facility engineering sector, both in China and around the world. Our founding principals had previously worked in senior positions for some of the world’s largest engineering and manufacturing firms. This experience led us to believe the facilities industry would benefit from the presence of a dedicated service business that could remain completely independent of hardware and software vendors.
The three founding members had first-hand experience with manufacturing firms establishing service entities that were, in actuality, thinly-veiled attempts at creating pull-through of the firm’s own hardware and software. We believed then, as we do now, that if Baseline could succeed in maintaining impartiality from any other hardware or service providers, it could truly become a third-party owner’s representative. As a genuine owner’s representative, we can use all of our experience in the industry to serve the owner’s interests exclusively, while also establishing a viable business for ourselves.
Our other vision was to create a full service company that could design, project-manage, commission and then remotely monitor a facility’s mechanical and electrical systems. This would allow us to close the loop from the inception and design of a new facility, through the construction process and then its on-going operation and maintenance. Using the experience gained throughout this process, and all of the data collected during our remote monitoring work, we could then improve the design of new facilities. This concept was born out of the principal’s previous experience of seeing good engineering designs misinterpreted by purchasing personnel, well made equipment being installed badly by field technicians, and energy saving devices being misused by poorly trained service personnel. If we could get our arms around the whole process, from design to operation and maintenance, we could greatly improve the performance and efficiency, and increase the lifespan of the MEP systems.
Baseline’s initial projects were in the design, project management and commissioning of refrigeration and electronic control systems for international supermarkets operating in China. It was not long however, before our customers' demands expanded our service scope to include the other energy using systems in their facilities, including HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning), lighting systems and the many areas and technical disciplines in between.
With a great deal of experience in the practical, onsite world of helping customer’s electronic and mechanical systems operate reliably and efficiently, we were ideally placed to provide more general consulting services. To this end, a key customer contracted Baseline to coordinate their corporate sustainability program, which was initially focused primarily on achieving energy savings. From there, Baseline moved on to providing consulting services in almost every area of facility asset management and sustainability. This has included diverse areas, such as the design and implementation of a nationwide waste reduction program, certification of a voluntary emissions reduction carbon credit project, LEED green building certification and a bio-digestion based methane plant.
More recently, our customers have involved Baseline in the on-going maintenance management of the MEP systems in their buildings. Increasingly, our customers have come to realise that good maintenance practices and processes are an important part of achieving on-going facility energy efficiency.
After many years of working closely together, we are now able to say our customer’s facilities are the most energy efficient and reliable in their respective industries. Our customers also have industry-leading sustainable development practices that minimise environmental impacts.
