INTRODUCTION

This assignment has been provided to introduce some ‘real world’ activities into your study of Building Services Engineering Design and Maintenance, and the consideration of sustainability within Building Services design projects. It is hoped that by examining various aspects of a ‘semi-real’ building, a small Medical Research Center, you will become more familiar with the role of the Building Services Engineer and the day to day problems he/she/they may encounter. An assignment such as this cannot cover all areas of engineering services provision typically met within a commercial construction project so Assignment 1 will concentrate on:

Environmental Design Conditions
Simplified Engineering Calculations
Heating Systems Design and Specification
Ventilation Systems Design and Specification

Note: Assignment 2 will cover

Basic Lighting
Basic Acoustics
Services Integration
Discussion on Systems Maintenance

The below tasks are to be based upon a low-rise Medical Research Centre building as shown in the attached drawings – for this assignment we can assume it is single storey. NOTE: print margins have a slight effect on dimension accuracy in relation to measurements versus use of the given drawing scale. In this assessment procedures are far more important than calculation accuracy.

The building is to be constructed in Salford, Greater Manchester, with a targeted occupancy date of February 2025. It is to be anticipated that the building will not be used for anything other than the room titles suggest and, to that end, it can be assumed that only standard, generic, HVAC and electrical services will be installed in the building appropriate to the usage of the rooms within. Note that there is space for M&E services in the ‘Plant Room’ as indicated on the drawing. Note that, as previously mentioned, although

dimensions are shown, these are only accurate if the drawing as inserted in the brief is correctly sized. Exact dimensions are not crucial when scaling from the drawing – what is important is design procedures not calculation accuracy.

TASKS:

Before the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Services can be selected, sized to meet building loads and then installed, the Services Design Engineer must determine the internal environmental conditions that have to be achieved regardless of the external environmental conditions. The internal conditions need to be maintained throughout the year despite the bitter cold of winter and the, now not unusual, intense heat of summer.

Services Designers typically consider the ‘thermal’, ‘visual’ and ‘acoustic’ internal environment together with the requirement for a high standard of ‘indoor air quality (IAQ), with aspects of sustainability and energy consumption forming an ‘umbrella’ focus over all decisions. Additionally, different types of buildings, and rooms of differing usage within the same building, will require different environmental conditions.

Once the task of selecting suitable environmental conditions has been achieved the Services Designer can then determine room heat losses and gains, ventilation (and cooling) requirements, lighting requirements and sound level requirements and, crucially, how they can acceptably be installed in the building, or accounted for, from an access, physical and aesthetic perspective.