Building Services Design Management

Jackie Portman

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118528112
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Building services refers to the equipment and systems that contribute to controlling the internal environment to make it safe and comfortable to occupy. They also support the requirements of processes and business functions within buildings, for example manufacturing and assembly operations, medical procedures, warehousing and storage of materials, chemical processing, housing livestock, plant cultivation, etc.

For both people and processes the ability of the building services engineering systems to continually perform properly, reliably, effectively and efficiently is of vital importance to the operational requirements of a building. Typically the building services installation is worth 30-60% of the total value of a contract, however existing publications on design management bundles building services engineering up with other disciplines and does not recognise its unique features and idiosyncrasies.

Building Services Design Management provides authoritative guidance for building services engineers responsible for the design of services, overseeing the installation, and witnessing the testing and commissioning of these systems. The design stage requires technical skills to ensure that the systems are safe, compliant with legislative requirements and good practices, are cost-effective and are coordinated with the needs of the other design and construction team professionals. Covering everything from occupant subjectivity and end-user behaviour to design life maintainability, sequencing and design responsibility the book will meet the needs of building services engineering undergraduates and postgraduates as well as being an ideal handbook for building services engineers moving into design management.

Part One
The operating context

It is important to understand the context within which building services engineering design entities operate because this shapes and gives meaning to many things, and it can explain behaviours and actions. Context analysis examines the milieu in which an entity operates. There are many classification systems that are used, one of the simplest being to think of three different levels within the business environment – the organisational arrangement, the internal environment and the external environment to an entity – and how they are arranged for any particular project and the influences of the interfaces with stakeholders to a project. Ethical issues also need to be considered.

1
The operating environment

---

Chapter outline

1. 1.1 Organisational arrangement
   1. Ownership arrangement
   2. Scope of services
   3. Integration with other entities
   4. Types of projects by building sector
   5. Geographical operating span
2. 1.2 The internal environment
   1. Human capital
   2. Structural capital
   3. Relationship capital
3. Summary

---

Organisational structure describes how an organisation is arranged: its hierarchy and how the components of this hierarchy work together to achieve the objectives set out in the vision and mission statements. This determines the operating procedures and the roles and responsibilities of the people employed.

Vision statements articulate organisational goals for the mid-term or long-term future. Ranging from one line to several paragraphs, a vision statement identifies what the organisation would like to achieve or accomplish. A good vision statement provides the inspiration for the daily operations of a business and shapes its strategic decisions. Vision statements may address a range of issues such as: aspirations for relationships with their clients, employees, project team members and suppliers; impact of their services in terms of sustainability and integration with the built environment: attitude to innovation: market positioning in terms of location: and types and sizes of projects. Some organisations may publish these in a very visible way, while others may keep them in-house or even keep them as verbal understandings.

---

Examples of vision statements

The following are vision statements, collected from the websites, of multidisciplinary organisations who provide building services design services:

Arup ‘We shape a better world … To enhance prosperity and the quality of life … To deliver real value … To have the freedom to be creative and to learn. Increasingly, we see ourselves as a provider of technical solutions; a design-oriented technology house; a professional consultancy that has the stature to exercise influence over those things we care most about. A fulfilment, perhaps, of the most liberal interpretation of the original dream …’

Atkins: ‘Our vision – We aim to be the world’s best infrastructure consultancy. We define infrastructure as the systems that are vital for any nation’s or community’s productivity and development, including transportation, utilities, water, energy, large-scale built environments and information communications and defence and security systems.’

Mott McDonald: ‘To be the consultant of choice, recognised for the quality of our people and our customer service.’

---

Mission statements are present-based statements designed to convey how the vision statement will be achieved. They should inspire and give direction to their employees rather than to those outside of the company. As circumstances change, mission statements may need to be adjusted, but they should always refer back to the same vision statement.

---

Examples of mission statements

The following examples are collected from a range of building services design entities.

We shall:

• provide superior client service and delight our clients
• act equitably and honourably with our suppliers
• protect and enhance the quality of the built and natural environment
• encourage innovation and creativity in design
• practice sustainable development.

---

Neither visions nor mission statements define how to achieve the goals; however, by outlining the key objectives for an organisation, they enable the organisation’s employees to develop business strategies to achieve the stated goals.

The business activity of any organisation can be classed into a particular economic sector according to the business types and the products produced: primary (extracting and processing raw materials), secondary (manufacturing finished goods), tertiary (providing services) and quaternary (providing intellectual activities). The provision of building services engineering design services is an example of the quaternary sector of the economy where the output is based on its intellectual capital. This is the possession of knowledge and experience, lore, ideals and innovation, professional knowledge and skill, good relationships and technological capacities which, when applied, will give organisations a competitive advantage.

1.1 Organisational arrangement

The organisational arrangement of an entity delivering building services engineering design may be configured in many different ways according to:

• ownership arrangement
• scope of building services engineering offered
• integration with other entities
• types of projects undertaken by building sector
• geographical operating span.

Ownership arrangement

Most organisations associated with building services engineering design entities are private sector owned, but some are in the public sector. In terms of legal structure, private sector organisations may be run as sole traders, partnerships or private or public limited companies. Public sector organisations are part of local or national government departments.

It is also possible for building services engineering entities to be under a licensing arrangement. Under this arrangement a licensor grants the licensee the right to use their name and, in return, the licensee submits to a series of conditions regarding the use of the licensor’s intellectual property and agrees to make ‘royalty’ payments; for example, this arrangement may be used when, say, a UK based organisation wishes to open offices overseas and is prepared to have their name used under licence.

A building services engineering entity may link with other entities to form joint venture arrangements. The parties to the joint venture share (equally or otherwise) the provision of resources, risks and profits. The joint venture will have a unique name, which my use the names of the parties or it may be specific to the joint venture arrangement.

Whatever the ownership arrangement, building services engineering entities are usually independent of manufacturers, suppliers and installers of building services engineering equipment and systems. This enables them to offer unbiased opinions, judgements and decisions without any potential conflict of interest.

Scope of services

A building services engineering design entity may provide services for only one of the three main engineering disciplines that embrace building services engineering – mechanical, electrical or public health – or they may offer a combination of two disciplines, or provide all three disciplines.

Mechanical, electrical and public health engineering each comprise a range of core subject areas. With increases in the size of a project, the core subject areas are more likely to be dealt with by specialist building services engineers. With increasing complexity of a project more specialist subject areas will be added. Some entities may not be able to offer some or all of the additional specialisms for a particular project. Figure 1.1 illustrates this for lighting.

Figure 1.1 Effects of increasing project size and complexity on resources required.

Some building services engineering entities may provide services for all stages of a project, from preparation to handover and operation in use, while others may specialise in certain stages only:, for example just doing feasibility studies and concept design work, or just doing the detailed design stage.

Integration with other entities

The building services engineering entity may be standalone or ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Preface
• About the author
• Introduction
• Part One: The operating context
• Part Two: Technical issues associated with building services design
• Part Three: The design management process
• Part Four: Special buildings
• Index
• End User License Agreement