PRE PLANNING OF BUILDING PROJECTS

A good construction manager’s inJuence on a project’s outcome is

similarly greatest at the planning phase. The ability to optimize
results starts with an evaluation of all project variables to create a
carefully conceived and well-de$ned construction project plan that
incorporates scope and costs and clari$es programmatic and
budgetary objectives. The earlier the construction manager is
involved the better, as most savings opportunities are identi$ed
during the early planning phase of construction projects. Being
onboard early allows the construction manager the opportunity to
assist the owner in assembling the right professional team at the
outset.

The most important task in a project is to assemble the right

professional team at the outset.

Many professionals are required for large projects—architects,

engineers, consultants, contractors, designers, landscaping, AV/ IT,
lighting and specialty consultants, etc. For a project to be successful
given this enormous number of “moving parts”, it is critical the right
team is assembled at the outset and is managed to bring out their
best work to meet the client’s vision and goals. For instance,
selecting the best architect for your project is more than a matter of
design and inspiration. No one wants an initial design that is
impractical or beyond their budget. Be realistic when evaluating
whether an architectural $rm’s temperamental and procedural
compatibility $ts with yours and the balance of the project team.
This is the stage at which an experienced construction manager can
be of great value. Every design decision has a cost and schedule
implication. It is essential to integrate management of the design
and cost seamlessly during the entire process to keep a $nger on the
pulse of cost and schedule.

The early or conceptual design phase is a dynamic process of

discovery.

It is important to apply proper resources during the entire lifecycle of

a project, including all four construction project phases. The early or
conceptual design phase is a process of discovery in which the
architect and owner begin to articulate and de$ne the goals for the
project. Owners are usually eager to describe their vision of a project
that $ts their business model, or in the case of a residence their
needs, lifestyle and image, but there are many other project
parameters the architect must incorporate that will impact the
developing program. The construction project planning checklist
could include code analysis, planning requirements or restrictions,
site feasibility and analysis, environmental issues and neighbor
concerns. Early planning is a dynamic process in which the owner
and design team take the time to listen to each other, formulate
ideas, evaluate design options and concepts and begin to move
toward a project design. Architects often utilize conceptual sketches,
physical and three dimensional digital models to aid the owner’s
visualization of ideas being discussed. This is the point at which
clients may include a preliminary investigation into whether a project
can incorporate various energy and water savings, green building
techniques, or meet LEED certi$cation criteria if desired. It’s also the
time to review requirements for the planning approval process with
local jurisdictional authorities.

Residential construction is a creative process. At this juncture it’s

important to bring in others on your team to get their input on the
developing design. The more discussion and free exchange of ideas
among the owner and project team, the more the project design
evolves. Eventually, conceptual drawings are further developed into
schematic design drawings that include building plans, elevations,
sections and site plans, but these drawings cost money and should
be based on a solid understanding of the client’s program. Not
understanding the dynamics of construction, owners may pressure
the team to reduce the time spent planning and have unrealistic
expectations of the savings of “fast track” project delivery. It is
important to reassure clients of the valuable bene$ts engendered by
honing the plan, which has likely morphed due to the input of the
project team that got them to this point. This will lead to a better
client understanding and foster trust in the construction manager
and project team to create a realistic plan that is clearly articulated,
feasible and that $ts into their budget and schedule constraints.

Every design decision has a cost and schedule implication.

Preconstruction. An essential part of preconstruction requires early

retention of a general contractor to provide cost estimates, which
inform the conceptual total construction project budget. This
enables the construction manager to establish a rough order of
magnitude budget as early as possible to correlate cost and value to
project scope. We suggest clients pay for estimating services so
they don’t feel obliged to retain the contractor if the eventual
construction bid isn’t competitive. With an early project budget in
hand, a good construction manager will oversee the architect and
team to design to that budget.

Constructability Review. The owner generally isn’t technically savvy

enough to review drawings and documents for constructability,
accuracy and completeness. These tasks require a high level of
skills, experience and collaborative construction best coordinated by
the construction manager. As they review the developing plans, team
members evaluate scope, requirements, cost, schedule, involvement,
communication needs, etc. This process referred to as a
constructability review ideally occurs on an ongoing basis
throughout design development. This proactive team input can
reveal potential opportunities and conJicts while it is still possible to
incorporate or remedy them before they negatively affect the project.
Changes made after construction commences may have budget
consequences such as delays and change orders.

Contrary to widely held belief, it is the design drawings that

determine the cost of the project.

It is critical the architectural $rm produce design drawings that are

well established, clear and coordinated and in su[cient detail for the
contractor to build e[ciently. Contrary to popular understanding, it is
the architects design and drawings that determine the cost of the
project—much more so than the contractor who can only bid on
what is drawn. Your construction manager should be heavily
involved in this stage. While the architect focuses on designing what
the owner desires, this perspective often competes with the need to
keep a $nger on the pulse of cost and schedule. Runaway design
with ever-increasing scope is a problem that can be mitigated by
proper construction management procedures. Your construction
manager should attend design meetings along with the owner and
continually review drawings as they are being developed to ensure
the design and scope of work remain consistent with the original
intention and budget.

It is important to demand full design and coordinated engineering

drawings to save on expensive change orders later. Value
engineering is often a euphemism for whittling elements out of a
project when it is over-budget at the end of the design process—after
the bids are received and the project is too costly. It is expensive and
upsetting to the owner to eliminate design components that they
became emotionally attached to. The owner always has the option
to increase the scope of course, but should be able to make
informed decisions based on the associated cost implications to
those changes. It is much better to integrate management of the
design and cost during the entire process rather than try to $x it at
the end.

Early planning for construction can make or break the success of

your project.

A professional construction manager will provide guidance on

developing a comprehensive and accurate scope of work and
de$ning functional and technical requirements for the management
and execution of the construction project plan. Planning for
developing the budget and schedule involves construction
scheduling techniques, de$ning scopes of work, estimating required
resources and durations, project organization, decisions on
collaborative project software, which $rms will be invited to bid and
other project planning steps. Is your project a candidate for Building
Information Modeling (BIM) or Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)?
Effective, early project planning leads to improved performance in
terms of cost, schedule and operations, balancing the competing
needs of a project. Properly planned projects reduce expensive
change orders and cost overruns, limit liability and can make or
break the success of your project.

Share this:
 An overview of building
services
1

Building services are engineering systems. They are placed on, threaded 1.1 What are building
through, and fixed to the structure and fabric of a building. services?
Any building services (BS) system comprises three elements:
• plant
• distribution
• terminals.
Even the most basic building requires six or seven separately identifiable
systems to make it work. The building’s form and function affect the
complexity of building services.
Building engineering services are generally referred to by builders as
M & E, mechanical and electrical services. This broad grouping can
include public health, fire and security systems. Lifts and escalators are
usually referred to under those names and carried out by specialist
firms. Other associated but specialist building services systems which
may be carried out under separate contracts are:
• sub stations
• high voltage switch gear
• data and telecommunications services
• generators
• uninterrupted power systems (UPS)
• kitchens and cold rooms
• medical gases
• process services.
These services may also be found within M & E contracts as specialist
subtraders. We can understand why they are necessary by glancing at
Table 1.1.
To support and operate the BS there are the essential utilities:
• gas
• water
• electricity
• drainage
• telecommunications.

5
6 Overview of building services

Table 1.1 The generic families of building services

1.2 Why are building

services necessary? Building services enable buildings to be used for their designated
purpose. This they do within a framework of enabling and controlling
legislation:

• by creating an internal environment—heating, ventilation, air

conditioning, lighting and acoustics;
• by defending the building from the external environment—lightning,
rain, wind, noise, heat and cold;
• by providing protection—against fire and for security;
• by enabling communication—through voice, vision and data systems;
• by providing welfare—with toilet and first aid facilities (including
those for the disabled), and vending/catering;
• by disposal of waste—through plumbing, recycling and refuse
collection systems and services.

Through services systems buildings are made to function safely and

healthily.
During building occupation the environmental, power and public
health services are dynamic, while those of fire fighting and security are
generally passive. The passive systems becoming dynamic only upon
activation, which may be by human intervention or automatic sensing.
Outside periods of building occupancy the systems are in dormant and
passive sensing modes, or in the case of environmental systems
maintaining a predetermined lower level of internal climate that can be
raised quickly to occupancy standard.
 Matters of design 7

1.3.1 CLIMATE 1.3 Matters of design

Geographically designated as a temperate climatic zone, the weather

patterns of the British Isles pose problems for the BS designer. By
comparison Scandinavian countries have much lower external ambient
temperatures, but the temperature tends to go down and stay down for
long periods. This gives an external environmental stability to which
internal climates can be matched. But in the British Isles we can be
subjected to considerable unpredictable changes in temperature; rain and
wind in a 12 hour daytime period. Designing for the ‘average’ often catches
out the ability of internal climate systems to cope with such changes.

13.2 ESSENTIAL SERVICES

It is mandatory for all occupied buildings in the UK to have:

• heating
• ventilation
• plumbing
• hot and cold water
• power
• lighting.
and supporting utilities. Certainly the ventilation may be by natural
means, via openable windows; it is nevertheless essential in providing
the oxygen we breathe.

1.3.3 THE EFFECT OF FUNCTION AND FORM

Services designs are affected by building function, which dictates

building form and layout. These latter have an impact on the
complexity of the engineering services to be provided and the way they
are integrated with the structure, and interface with the buildings fabric
and finishes. Some examples of the effect of these aspects on different
buildings are as follows:

• A modern hospital of ‘nucleus’ cruciform design has service streets

meeting at intersections where operating theatres, laboratories and
toilet facilities increase the density of services provision.
• Manufacturing facilities with process equipment and machinery
bring demands for spaces varying from large open production lines
with exposed services, to small clean/sterile atmosphere rooms and
enclosed services. In either, the mix of process related services may
include steam and condense, compressed air, vacuum, cooling water
8 Overview of building services

and drainage lines, clean electrical supplies, high grade lighting, and
volatile gases requiring state of the art leak detection.
• The acoustics of theatres and concert halls will make demands on
the careful application of the heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems serving auditoria and rehearsal
rooms, etc. The rotating machinery of fans and pumps will be of
slow speed and isolated from the ducting and pipework systems. Air
distribution terminals must be selected to give adequate throw of air
without generating noise at the outlet.
• Leisure centres with swimming pools and ice rinks bring specialist
complexity to engineering services. Flumes, diving tanks, underwater
lighting effects, lighting to avoid spectral glare, water filtration and
treatment are all requirements additional to the general services. For
an ice rink the integration of the ice pad with the building structure
and foundations is an interface requiring particular care.
• For offices the depth of floor plan (shallow or deep), relationship to
an atrium, false ceiling and floor depths and the number of service
cores will determine the layout of engineering services. Whether it is
to be speculative, a prestigious headquarters or a local authority
building will determine the standards.

1.3.4 LEGISLATION, CODES AND STANDARDS

The legislated requirements for buildings and their services are very
extensive and are treated here in the context of scene setting. Buildings
first require planning approval and must be further designed and
constructed in compliance with the Building Regulations. Approval to
the latter is through local authority building control departments; these
may also carry the responsibility for fire approval. Alternatively, fire
approval may be delegated to the local brigade. Whatever patterns of
controlling organization apply, matters of public and environmental
health will be generally embraced by the local authorities. If the
building is being procured on behalf of the state e.g. as a prison,
government laboratory or defence establishment some ‘normal’ building
regulations may be set aside. But, be assured, they are nearly always
replaced by a higher, more onerous level of requirement.
As befits a developed society there is no shortfall, locally or
nationally, in the requirements for providing safe and healthy buildings.
The overall architecture of relative legislation is framed in the Health
and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974. Under this Act, regulations covering
premises, plant and machinery, substances, procedures and people have
been introduced. One of the most far reaching regulations for the site
manager are the recently introduced Construction (Design and
Management) Regulations 1994.
 Matters of design 9

For the services designer, compliance with legislation means the

acquisition of knowledge so that the system selected to meet the brief
are as strong, safe and simple as they can be. Fortunately there is much
guidance by way of Approved Codes of Practice (ACoP), Codes of
Practice (CoPs) and of course British Standards. The last named are
generally recognized as being the minimum standards for components,
equipment and system designs. Some also cover system management.
Further help is on hand for the designer through membership of
professional institutions, with their guides, codes, manuals, standards,
technical notes and memoranda. Support can be procured from a wide
range of government and industry research organizations:

• the Energy Efficiency Office (EEO)

• the Building Research Establishment (BRE)
• the Fire Research Station (FRS)
• the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA)
• the Construction Industry Research and Information Association
(CIRIA).
BSRIA’s Reading Guide 14/95 Building Services Legislation [1] is a
good starting point for any investigation into discovering whether, or
what, legislation applies to a subject. For standards, codes, guides and
other information available from most of the professional institutions,
consultancy associations and learned societies (see Appendix M). Much
of the information is available to non-members.
All buildings have to meet minimum standards in the provision of fire
detection and prevention systems. Determined by law according to the
function of the building they may be enhanced, thereby attracting lower
insurance premiums, or backed up because the building must operate at
the highest level of availability. Security systems are not required by law
but may be provided to enhanced levels for the same reasons as fire
systems.

1.3.5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Clients, particularly those that trade their products to the general

public, are concerned with image and the environmental impact of their
buildings. Environmental impact may be looked at on three levels:

• global
• neighbourhood
• internal.

These factors do not always appear in harmony. A new building on a

greenfield site may require infrastructure development in the road and
10 Overview of building services

public utility demands that it makes. Yet it may be a very good

neighbour, being sensitively landscaped and providing jobs. Its location
may mean that it can possibly manage without air conditioning. In the
case of an office building, the greenfield site may be no better than the
town or city centre. The central location and the need to keep out noise,
dirt and heat usually make the provision of mechanically refrigerated
air conditioning essential; but such a development does not require new
roads or services mains. Fortunately the Building Research
Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) schemes
allow comparison of buildings employing differing BS technologies.
Additionally, the EEO offers much good guidance on energy targeting
and usage to clients in all sectors of commerce and industry.
It is in the provision of new commercial building stock that we are
seeing a greater integration of building services. The orientation of a
building, application of shading overhangs and vertical screens, taller,
narrower windows with deep reveals, trickle vents, and internally, mass
concrete thermal sinks, are all important. They can be used in a variety
of combinations to mitigate the need for comfort cooling or full air
conditioning.
Building structure and fabric and building services are thus becoming
more closely entwined. In such facilities it will no longer be possible to
test and prove the building climate services independently of structure
and fabric.

13.6 SCHEMATICS

The visualization of BS systems first takes place through the designer’s

production of schematics. Issued to the builder at tender enquiry stage
they can be the source of much valuable information. Whether it is
generic or specific, a system schematic will show the essential three
elements of plant, distribution and terminals. A generic schematic, e.g.
Fig. 1.1, will simply show the relationship of the parts for that type of
system. Job specific schematics will diagrammatically relate the system
selected by the designer to the building’s basic geography; Fig. 1.2 shows
a small bore heating system for a bungalow and indicates the piping
routes from the boiler to the radiators, and names the rooms served.

1.3.7 SYSTEM SELECTION

The generic families of building services (see Table 1.1) do not define
the type of lighting, security or air conditioning systems. The designer
decides these for the building under consideration and takes into
account:
 Matters of design 11

Figure 1.1 Generic schematic of a low pressure hot water heating system.
(Source: BSRIA TN 17/92, Design Information Flow .)

• capital cost
• running cost
• ease of maintenance
• flexibility (change of layout)
• noise
• appearance of terminals
• space requirements (plant and distribution)
• ease of control
• incursion into usable space
• user acceptability.
12 Overview of building services

Figure 1.2 A small bore heating system. (Reproduced from F.Hall, Building Services
and Equipment, Vol. 1, 3rd edn, Longman Scientific and Technical.)

This random listing will vary in hierarchy of importance for each

building type and the services within it.
To give an indication of the wide range of building services systems
and their subsystems the Co-ordinating Committee for Project
Information (CCPI), Common Arrangement Work Section (CAWS)
listings R-X are included in Appendix A. The listing takes the form of
an alphanumeric reference for each work section. The CAWS are the
basis for the Standard Method of Measurement 7 (SMM 7). An
indication of the wide choice of systems from which the designer can
make selection can be seen under U, ventilation/air conditioning
systems, and V, electrical supply/power/lighting systems.
Laid out in a three-level hierarchy from generic to specific type even
these are not exhaustive listings. For V 21 general lighting could be
provided by tungsten, fluorescent and halogen lamps combined in a
similar seemingly bewildering choice of luminaires.

1.3.8 SYSTEM LAYOUT

The design engineer lays out the terminal positions on general

arrangement drawings perhaps using computer aided design (CAD). For
 Where do they go? 13

those terminals on a common system, interconnecting distribution lines

will be drawn from the source plant room along distribution routes. The
designer will seek, in discussion with the other design team (DT)
members, to locate the thermal and electrical power plant in positions
which will keep distribution routes as short as possible, while remaining
convenient for the connection of utilities.

1.4.1 GENERAL 1.4 Where do they go?

Having given the site manager a basic insight into some aspects of
design for M & E we can enhance his (or her) understanding of where
they can be expected to be found on the project. A building’s function,
form and required levels of fire, safety, security, internal climate
and reliability, determine the complexity and density of services to be
provided. This in turn affects the spaces services occupy and
ultimately the size of the building and its overall cost. It is these
aspects rather than the sheer size of building served that determine the
space given over to BS.

1.4.2 PLANT ROOMS

The size of plant rooms examples the last point. The greater the boiler,
chiller, diesel generator required, the more cost efficient they become on
a weight and volume occupied basis compared pro rata with units of
smaller capacity. In addition the space required around plant items for
construction, repair and maintenance seemingly differ very little
between the smallest and largest units in a catalogue.
Table 1.2 takes the generic listing of BS and expands it to indicate
where the location of major items of plant and equipment are most
commonly found.
Figure 1.3 shows (a) the basement plant areas and (b) a section
through a prestigious building in which the financial services functions
require a high degree of reliability from their services support. The
section shows best the take up of space for air conditioning in the
general offices and a closer controlled climate for the computer suite.
Generator, UPS and Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX) make
their claim for space. At roof level there is equipment to reject heat from
the air conditioning systems, water storage and air handling unit plant
rooms, lift motor room, aerial and satellite arrays. The plan depicts the
loss of floor area due to vertical transport systems and inter-connection
between chillers and condensers; with these we are starting to move
away into the general distribution routes.
14 Overview of building services

Table 1.2 Location of plant and equipment

 Where do they go? 15

Table 1.2 Continued

1.4.3 UTILITIES

Before considering internal distribution let us go back to Table 1.2 and

unravel the space and location requirements for the utilities. Following
the privatization of water, gas and electricity, supply companies are now
happier to contract for providing a service into a building. Whereas
previously, even for sites with no more than a few metres from
boundary to building, the utility service would be terminated and
metered at the boundary, now privatized companies are not only happy
to come into the building but may seek to contract for carrying out
internal services. Nevertheless, gas, water and electricity metering and
intake rooms are best provided near to ground level, preferably with
controlled access from the external face of the building. This is
particularly so with respect to electrical supplies where, in the case of
sharing an area substation or a dedicated low voltage supply, permanent

Figure 1.3(a) Prestigious commercial offices, basement plant areas.

16 Overview of building services

Figure 1.3(b) Prestigious commercial offices, section A-A and plant and risers.

access to the intake room must be granted with wayleaves to the supply
company. If the size of building warrants it, and a more preferential
tariff is available, electrical supply may be at high voltage. Here the
substation and its maintenance becomes the responsibility of the
building owner. The requirements for access to the high voltage meter
and switch remain with the supply company, as with low voltage.
Water supplies for fire, e.g. hydrant main, sprinklers and hosereels,
may be unmetered. The supply for all other services usually designated
‘domestic’ will be metered. Many supply companies now require the
hosereel service to be metered as it has been known to be subject to
abuse in cleaning vehicles and watering landscapes.
Most gas companies are only interested in a single metered supply.
The building services designer may be briefed to provide submetering
for individual tenancies and kitchens.
The deregulation of communications has also increased demand on
 Where do they go? 17

building space for engineering services. Previously one only had to

consider British Telecom; now we have Mercury and others.
It is usually possible to design the rainwater and foul drainage
installations to gravitate from the building. Where this is not possible,
soil and surface water drainage can be collected in chambers and
discharged through pumped mains into the local authority systems.
Normally, sewage pumps are duplicate sets arranged for cascade back
up operation.

1.4.4 DISTRIBUTION ROUTES

We return to consider the distribution of services between and through

buildings. There is a hierarchy of level to be considered. Primary
distribution takes place from plant areas both horizontally and
vertically. Common route types are, horizontal—crawlways, ducts and
trenches and the corridor ceiling void—and vertical—risers
(multistorey).
As Fig. 1.4 shows, within a heirarchy of primary and secondary
distribution routes there can be considerable geometrical variation. The
example could apply to ventilation distribution from an air handling
unit, heating pipework from a roof level boiler plant, or water
distribution to laboratory benches.
Figure 1.5 is an example of vertical primary distribution within a city
centre air conditioned office building. Homing in on the toilet block
core in Fig. 1.6, it is seen to be encased by the vertical distribution of
nearly every conceivable service system for a building of that type.
Secondary distribution in most types of buildings is arranged
horizontally. In some buildings such as hotels and vertically stacked
toilet blocks, the connections between risers and terminals are short.
Here the concept of secondary and tertiary distribution becomes
blurred, but in many buildings, particularly offices, secondary
distribution takes place in either floor and ceiling or in both. Figures 1.7
and 1.8 show secondary distribution taking place mainly in the ceiling
and floor respectively. In these examples of secondary distribution
through floor and ceiling voids it is seen that the terminals are located
on the surface of the false floor and ceiling, i.e. the tertiary distribution
takes place in the same space. This occurs most commonly with
lighting, ventilation or air conditioning systems and to a lesser degree
with sprinklers and fire detection heads.
Tertiary distribution is defined as a situation where services are taken
from either the secondary distribution or boundary of the serviced space
to some point within it. The method of distribution such as dado or
skirting trunking, service poles and rails usually takes up some room
space. In highly serviced buildings or for aesthetic reasons this final
Figure 1.4 Primary and secondary distribution routes— geometrical variation.
Figure 1.5 Verticle primary distribution spaces within a city centre air conditioned office building.
20 Overview of building services

Figure 1.6 Toilet block core —vertical services distribution spaces.

Figure 1.7 Secondary distribution in ceiling: steel frame metal deck, small raised floor,
full access false ceiling, recessed light fittings. (Source: J.Berry, Ove Arup and
Partners.)
 Where do they go? 21

Figure 1.8 Secondary distribution in floor: false floor depth increased, services
removed from ceiling, zone-transferred to floor zone. (Source: J.Berry, Ove Arup and
Partners.)

services distribution can be integrated by designers into the furniture

and partitioning. Figure 1.9 shows servicing at the perimeter and screen
wall, and Fig. 1.10 workstation servicing in lay-in ducts and hollow
section risers.

Figure 1.9 Tertiary distribution— servicing at perimeter and screen wall. (Source:
DEGW.)
22 Overview of building services

Figure 1.10 Tertiary distribution— workstation servicing in lay-in ducts and hollow
section risers. (Source: DEGW.)

Terminals

The terminals of M & E systems are therefore to be found in walls,

floors and ceilings, and the fit out furniture of e.g. offices, laboratories
and hotels. They may be surface mounted, semi- or fully recessed.

Industrial buildings

In the large open space of factories, warehouses and DIY superstores

the distribution of building services is generally exposed. The main
distribution takes place parallel to eaves and valleys from which there
are a variety of routes to the terminals. Where required by legislation or
insurance, sprinklers may run parallel to the pitch of the roof. At
intervals electrical power will follow this slope to smoke vents and
openable roof lights. Both of these may alternatively be activated by
compressed air. Depending on the form of structural frame, truss or
portal, secondary support grids may be required from which will be
suspended ducting, piping and power and lighting distribution to
fittings suspended to create a notional horizontal plane at eaves and
valley level.
Piped services to process machinery featuring steam and condense,
compressed air, vacuum, gas, treated and chilled water, can be run in
various ways. Commonly, they will drop adjacent to structural columns
 Who designs them? 23

and run in floor ducts to the production lines. For steam or water ‘used
once’, or even where process heating or cooling water is closed circuit,
sumps, possibly with pumps, will be provided with an underslab gravity
drainage system. The piped services may also be provided via overhead
tracks with drops to the machines. These may be encased in service poles.

1.4.5 FIRE SERVICES TO BUILDING CORES

As with the plumbing and water services obviously associated with

toilet areas, there are other services to be found in building core areas.
For economy of building layout enabling common use of circulation
space, toilets in multistorey buildings are found arranged with lift
lobbies, disabled refuge areas and staircases. Contained in an
appropriately fire rated compartment, it is here that we will find break
glass unit fire alarms and hosereels, wet and dry fire risers. The
staircases and lift lobbies are increasingly being required to be
pressurized against smoke ingress.

Fire and acoustic transmission paths

Wherever building services pass through an element of structure or

building fabric there is a risk of creating a fire and noise transmission
path. Should any of those penetrations occur in a fire rated element it
must be sealed to maintain the integrity of the fire compartmentation.
Both the requirements for fire compartmentation and the methods
for compliant ‘fire stopping’, where services pass from one fire
compartment to another, are given in the Building Regulations. Many of
the methods available to satisfy these regulations will also be effective
in preventing or minimizing noise transmission.

1.5.1 GENERAL 1.5 Who designs them?

From the trunk of generic families of BS listed in Table 1.1 there are
many branches. There are literally hundreds of different types of BS
systems. There are forty to fifty derivations under air conditioning. The
constant churn of technological advancement in lighting, voice, vision
and data services seems exponential in its progression curve.
Everywhere the application of microprocessor technology aids these
advancements. What does all this mean for the BS designer? The need to
acquire, disseminate and apply this knowledge means there are few BS
consultancies or designer contractors with capabilities to design every
building service in house.
24 Overview of building services

1.5.2 CONSULTANTS

Consultants do not design lifts, escalators, transformers or generators,

equipment or terminals. However, from their knowledge of the function
of these components they are able to select and integrate them into
services systems for incorporation into buildings. The situation is
similar with respect to sprinkler installations: few consultants have the
capability or, more importantly, are certified to carry out the complex
hydraulic calculations in compliance with the 29th edition Loss
Prevention Council (LPC) Rules for Automatic Sprinkler Installations
(now concomitant with, BS 5306) [2].
For all services, the consultant engineer must be capable of defining
the performance criteria and giving weight, and spatial requirements to
the structural and architectural members of the design team. To do this
it may be necessary for the consultant to obtain information and take
advice from the plant and equipment manufacturers.
Prior to 1995 most engineering services design appointments were
made under, or derived from the Association of Consulting Engineers
three Schedules of Duties. Known as Appendices 1, 2 and 3, they rose in
levels of responsibility from ‘Performance’, through ‘Abridged’ to ‘Full
duties’ respectively. Building services technology, limits of harmonization
with the RIBA Plan of Work, the use of a wider choice of contractual
routes and politics outpaced the usefulness of these schedules. The hard
market conditions of the early 1990s and political calls for fee
competition increasingly exposed their limitations. They have now been
replaced by the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE) Conditions of
Engagement 1995, Agreements A(2), B(2) and C(2) [4]. These allow the
knowledgeable client to list those duties he wishes the designer to carry
out. In other cases, and these may include fee bids, the designer will list
duties and a fee for their discharge. In both cases you get what you pay
for and there is an onus on the design procurer knowing what is needed;
see section 2.2.3, ‘Terms of engagement’.
There is an aid to the assignment of duties. The BSRIA has published
Technical Note TN8/94, The Allocation of Design Responsibilities for
Building Engineering Services—a code of conduct to avoid conflict [5].
This provides pro formas for more closely defining those areas of design
responsibility that, through differing interpretation, regularly lead to
dispute between the designer and the installer (see section 2.2.4,
‘Division of responsibilities’).

1.5.3 THE DESIGNER—CONTRACTOR

The reader will have noticed the use of both terms ‘consultant’ and
‘designer’. Not all design is carried out by consultants or specialists
 Who designs them? 25

under their control. A considerable number of BS contractors undertake

design in a variety of ways:

• as designer installers working for design-and-build main contractors;

• appointed by developers and other end user clients to work with the
separately appointed professional design team;
• appointed by the lead professional designer, usually the architect;
• appointed by project managers to work with the professional team.

There are a number of variations, but all have some direct line design
warranty to the end client.

1.5.4 NOVATED DESIGN

A further design procurement variant quite frequently used is that of

novation, often found in the main contract design-and-build route. Here
a consultant may produce a performance or abridged duties design
which is passed via the design and build (D & B) contractor to the
services designer-installer. These may be novated with a requirement to
accept full responsibility for the design and its further development.
Sometimes the employer’s requirements ask for the D & B main
contractor to take the consultant under contract. In turn this leads to
the main contractor seeking to mitigate his design responsibility by
bringing the consultant and designer-installer together with a form of
‘back to back’ design warranty.

1.5.5 THE INSTALLER

Historically, the greatest percentage of BS design work has been

undertaken by consultants working to the ACE ‘Abridged duties’.
Reduced to its simplest terms this comprised a specification and set of
drawings. These last named took the form of general arrangement
drawings at 1:100 scale. Some plant room layouts were to larger scale—
1:50; for toilet block layouts, 1:20 and perhaps a few sections depicting
the preferred arrangement of services in risers, crawlways, ducts,
trenches, ceiling and floor voids. Some consultants enlightened as to
where ‘pinch points’ would occur at congested intersections along the
distribution routes would produce better details to show the viability of
installation. At best these schemes on ‘Abridged duties’ were only
numerical solutions. Through the development of working drawings and
at the workface of construction the installer proved whether they would
work.
That now defunct major client, the Property Services Agency (PSA),
26 Overview of building services

under the spotlight of scrutiny in spending public money, could not be

seen even via its agents, the design consultants, to bestow favour upon
one manufacturer or supplier in preference to another. The PSA’s
consultants were not allowed to obtain competitive quotations, or to
preselect plant, equipment or terminals. This led to a certain
imprecision in designs for the PSA. There are still many clients
appointing consultants who will not let them preselect on ‘Abridged
duties’. The installer—and remember he is not seeking to trade on his
design knowledge—bids the material content for the contract by
preparing estimates for plant, equipment and terminals, scheduled by
capacity/performance only. Having won the contract the installer sets
about producing working drawings. Working with better detail than the
consultant on structure, cladding, brickwork, floors and ceilings, etc.,
the installer will naturally seek economical routing and fixings.
Notwithstanding that reasonable objective he will find the need for
more bends and sets in his distribution systems than the consultant
envisaged, when working with less detail. The consultant, being aware
of this, would have called upon the installer to calculate the final air
and water circuit resistances to flow, for sizing fans and pumps. The
picture is emerging of the extent of ‘design’ knowledge that the installer
must have. More than in any other construction trade the installer’s
working drawings, offsite construction and work face practices can
affect the consultant’s ‘Abridged duties’ design intentions, via:

• fixings;
• anchor points;
• take up of expansion;
• gradient of pipework (venting and draining);
• change sections on ductwork;
• the routeing of electrical conduit;
• the interpretation of earthing and bonding;
• quality of system preparation (cleaning ducts, flushing and chemical
cleaning of pipework);
• offsite validation of software.

1.5.6 THE DESIGN ENGINEER

The designer has been referred to as one person. Obviously, this not the
case. Whether or not it is theoretically possible for one individual to be
capable of designing every building service system, that person has yet
to exist. From an early point in an engineer’s academic and industrial
training, personal preferences come to the fore, and trainees set out to
become a sprinkler, lift, electrical, controls, plumbing or HVAC
engineer. Some engineers encompass a wider range of building services
 What do building services cost? 27

design than others and go on to be called mechanical or electrical

engineers. Most start from some specialist base. All are BS engineers
and according to their function and status you may find a mechanical,
electrical or public health engineer with overall responsibility for
coordinating the design of a project’s services.
1.6 What do building
services cost?
1.6.1 AS A PERCENTAGE OF OVERALL PROJECT VALUE

There are lies, damn lies and statistics and then averages. What follows
is in the last category. The figures in Table 1.3 are averages. Those who
wish to denigrate them by quoting their latest, or most recent project
experience with services values outside these ranges will certainly be
able to do so. It is considered that the percentages may be of use to the
site manager who, by calculating both upper and lower percentages,
will arrive at a capital cost range. If the site manager’s project falls
significantly outside that range he would be advised to seek some
understanding as to why. The percentage figures are to be applied in
calculating the value of services inside the building and must be related
to the overall cost of buildings. A great number of quantity surveying
practices are very skilful at cost planning external works with their
infinite variables for city, out of town, hard and soft landscaping
permutations. But even the most skilful of QSs can fall foul of the
unpatterned costs for utilities connections, mains network
reinforcement costs, and that great catch all, contribution charges. For
all these reasons it is inappropriate to give any worthwhile assessment

Table 1.3 Building ser vices costs as percentage of overall job value (internal
services only)
28 Overview of building services

of what external costs may amount to. In defence of the bet hedging
width of the percentage ranges quoted in Table 1.3 note the following
commentary.

• Offices. With the increasing use of building design to minimize the

worst effects of our climate, the cost of services in these buildings
may fall to around or below 20% of the project value. But beware,
we are moving into an area where BS and building works can
become blurred. Similar thinking can be applied to air conditioning,
where building structure such as reinforced concrete high mass
thermal sinks, dense building envelope fabric and/or some screening,
reduces the size and cost of air conditioning systems. Some of the
newer variable refrigerant volume (VRV) systems, usually of
Japanese origin, may be applied as comfort cooling systems. Then
the percentage cost for an air conditioned building may fall even
further, from 25% to 20%.
• Warehouses. If they are simple with few workers and the stored
product does not require in-rack sprinkler systems then 15% is
about right. This may also apply to basic services in DIY stores. For
warehouses requiring a more sophisticated environment, high bay
lighting of good colour rendition, fire protection and detection, with
security systems wiring and battery charging for automatic guided
vehicles, 20% is nearer the mark as you approach the bottom level
figure of a working factory.
• Shopping centres. Here 15% will cover the provision of landlord’s
services to the public areas, i.e. malls, toilets, stair and lift lobbies,
and car parks. It will also cover services along trucking routes and
into each unit, for extension and fit out by the tenant. The 15% plus
or minus 5% can also be applied to multistorey car parks.
• Factories. Services to factory shells and small industrial units are
around 7.5%. When you get into working factories the range is quite
wide with the upper figure probably being capable of providing
some services connections to the machinery.
• Leisure centres. At the lower end of the range we have the ‘dry’
leisure centre, i.e. sports hall with a number of smaller multifunction
rooms, gymnasium and snooker rooms. At around the 40% value
mark we are extending from the ‘dry’ into leisure pools with their
flumes, diving tanks, water filtration and treatment requirements
and on into the truly multifunctional leisure centre which also
incorporates an ice rink.
• Hospitals. At around 30% we are covering the provision of major
hospital extensions, while new district general facilities can absorb
towards 50% of the project’s cost.
• Hotels. Motels can be serviced for around 20% of the overall value.
Three- to four-star hotels if out of town will cost about 30%,
 What do building services cost? 29

possibly up to 40% with conference and leisure facilities. For the

same level of accommodation in town and city centres with
conference and leisure facilities plus a greater variety of speciality
restaurants, etc., costs can rise to 45% and above.
• Computer centres. For those dedicated facilities located out of town
on secure greenfield sites operating possibly as ‘back up’ to the ‘back
up’ centre of financial institutions, services costs can easily account
for 60% plus. This high figure is caused by the need for 100%
reliability involving standby generation, UPS, high security, high fire
safety, duplicate pumps, fans and standby everything.
• Social housing. The wide range is affected by the mix of
accommodation units and whether they are provided with low
capital electric heating or the higher cost wet systems (radiators/fan
convectors).
• Student accommodation. This follows the pattern of social housing
for similar reasons.

To all of these cost indicators must be added lifts and escalators,

where the cost varies according to whether the building is low or high
rise.

1.6.2 COST RATIOS

In the same way that averages exist for overall building services costs,
so also there is a crude pattern of cost relationship between the building
services. This applies for a wide variety of buildings, the main affecting
variable being that of air conditioning. These ratios which are most
accurate for office buildings are shown in Table 1.4.

Table 1.4 Approximate cost ratios for offices (internal services, excluding underslab
drainage)
30 Overview of building services

Table 1.5 Building services costs

material/labour ratios

1.6.3 MATERIAL AND LABOUR RATIOS

The relationship that holds up well is the ratio of material, and here we
are including sublet trades, i.e. ducting, insulation and controls, to the
cost of labour. These ratios are shown in Table 1.5.

• Mechanical services. Where these are predominantly piped services

then the ratio of material and labour can be found around 2.5 to 1.
Where there is a greater use of offsite manufacture such as in air
conditioning with its appetite for sheet metal ductwork and large
pieces of plant like chillers, air handling units, etc., then the material
to labour ratio widens steeply.
• Electrical services. The ratios are closer here, increasing at the upper
end due to large pieces of equipment or major sublet items, e.g.
diesel generators and HV substations.
• Public health. An even closer range than for electrical services due to
the high predominance of pipework services. Where the cost of
sanitary fittings is included the materials/labour ratio edges
upwards.
• Sprinklers. The extensive use of labour intensive pipework holds the
ratio at around 1 to 1. The use of prefabricated piping can increase
this ratio.
• Lifts and escalators. The assembly on site of major components
manufactured offsite gives these items the highest ratio of all.

1.6.4 LABOUR RATES

For 10- or 11-man gangs, obviously quite large projects, all inclusive
but unprofited labour rates can be found in the order of:

• mechanical services: £8–9 per hour;

• electrician: £9–10 per hour;
• ductworkers: £8–9 per hour.
 References 31

In a period of relatively low inflation (1996) it is impossible to predict

for how long these figures will remain valid. In addition to these there
are of course many specialist trades for which other rates will prevail,
e.g. high voltage electrical workers, controls technicians, commissioning
engineers and data and telecom installers.

1.6.5 M & E SERVICES PRICE BOOKS

A great deal of this information on costs has been gathered over time
and through analysis and application of Spon’s Mechanical and
Electrical Services Price Book [6]. Published annually it is of the
greatest value in acquiring familiarity through regular use. This and
similar works are commended to the site manager so that he can check
the value of services, their cost and material-to-labour ratios on every
job. The site manager who does this will acquire a useful ‘feel’ for the
correct level of project services costs.

References

[1] BSRIA (1995) Reading Guide 14/95, Building Services Legislation,

Bracknell.
[2] The Loss Prevention Council (LPC) and British Standard BS5306: Part
2:1990 Fire Extinguishing Installations and Equipment on Premises (from
the Insurer’s LPC Rules for Automatic Sprinkler Installations).
[3] The Association of Consulting Engineers (1981) Conditions of
Engagement, Agreement, 4a for Engineering Services in Relation to Sub-
contract Works, amended 1990–1993, London.
[4] The Association of Consulting Engineers (1995) Conditions of
Engagement 1995, Agreements A[2], B[2], and C[2], London.
[5] BSRIA (1994) The Allocation of Design Responsibilities for Building
Services —a code of conduct to avoid conflict, Technical Note N 8/94,
Bracknell.
[6] E & FN Spon (annual) Spon’s Mechanical and Electrical Price Book,
London.
R E L AT E D P O S T S

Identifying Risks and Which Management

Exposures on Strategies Add Value to
Construction Projects Construction Projects?
Construction can be precarious. In general, value measures
Budget-busting design bene$ts gained from goods or
omissions, unforeseen services relative to cost. For
conditions and everything in most of us, good value means
between can affect a project’s getting (at least) our money’s
bottom line; for this reason, worth. So what does it mean
construction project risk here?In the construction $eld,
management is one of the most solid [...]
vital functions of cost
read more
estimation. Risk [...]
read more

Site Map | Privacy Statement | Legal Disclaimer | Service Areas

© Stonemark Construction Management. All Rights Reserved.