M&E BUILDING ENGINEERINGEnergy
Strategies
Over the last 10 years, we have gained significant experience in tailoring energy strategies to meet the local planning requirements. There has been a shift away from natural gas solutions towards air-source heatpump solutions due to the constantly improving carbon factors of grid electricity, but the solutions need to be tailored for the site.
Suppliers are developing new solutions but many of these are untried in this market and can impose higher running costs on the end-users. The space taken within the apartments is also an important factor and we have developed a number of space efficient utility cupboard solutions.
The Part F requirements, and overheating will inform the ventilation strategies selected for the apartments, carefully balanced with energy, and particularly acoustic considerations such as local roads, schools etc. There are options for full Mechanical Ventilation with heat recovery, as per System 4 in Part F of the Building Regulations, utilising a centralised MVHR unit to ventilate each room individually via ductwork in the ceiling, or trickle ventilators in the external facades and continuous mechanical extract from wet rooms as per System 3 from Part F.
Our experience with high end residential developments also means we are familiar with the leading industry suppliers of technology and able to apply economic solutions were required.
We appreciate that plant space is at a premium and utilising 3D modelling and Revit, we have been able to reduce plant space requirements, freeing up space for front-of-house spaces. It is essential that we consider plant maintenance and repair requirements to ensure that the plant can be suitably maintained and repaired in the future.
Our appointments typically cover complete design of the mechanical, electrical, public health and IT services.