Building services engineering

Short description: Professional engineering discipline

Building services engineering (BSE) is a professional engineering discipline that strives to achieve a safe and comfortable indoor environment whilst minimizing the environmental impact of a building.

Alternative titles are "mechanical, electrical and plumbing" (MEP) engineering, "technical building services", "building engineering" or "facilities and services planning engineering". The term BSE is widely used in Commonwealth countries (including the United Kingdom , Ireland, Canada and Australia ), but in the United States of America , Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the MEP engineers are known as "services planners".

In some countries, a "building services engineer" is a Senior MEP engineer with experience in the installation of equipment in Buildings Construction, Building Maintenance, Management, integration of electrical, mechanical, fire, hydraulic, security and communications building services, who manages and delivers the integrated detailed design of multiple disciplines so as to ensure that the building is delivered in a "least cost technically acceptable" manner, with emphasis on both the construction costs and the operational costs.

## Contents

* 1 Scope
* 2 Professional bodies
* 3 Education
* 4 Building services engineering software
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Scope

Building services engineers are responsible for the design, installation, operation and monitoring of the technical services in buildings (including HVAC Engineering, mechanical, electrical, also known as MEP or HVAC), in order to ensure the safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly operation. Building services engineers work closely with other construction professionals such as architects, structural engineers and quantity surveyors. Building services engineers influence the architectural design of building, in particular facades, in relation to energy efficiency and indoor environment, and can integrate local energy production (e.g. façade-integrated photovoltaics) or community-scale energy facilities (e.g. district heating). Building services engineers therefore play an important role in the design and operation of energy-efficient buildings (including green buildings, passive houses, and Plus-houses, and Zero-energy buildings). With buildings accounting for about a third of all carbon emissions[1] and over a half of the global electricity demand,[2] building services engineers play an important role in the move to a low-carbon society, hence mitigate global warming.

The career path of a building services engineer can take a very wide range of directions. Within the broad field of building services engineering, new roles are emerging, for example specialization in renewable energy, sustainability, low-carbon technologies, energy management, building automation, and building information modeling (BIM). Building services engineers increasingly seek status as accredited LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method), or CIBSE Low Carbon Consultants (LCC) and Energy Assessors (LCEA) auditors, in addition to their status as chartered/professional engineer.

Building services engineering encompasses much more than just MEP or HVAC), but also the following:

* Mechanical services:
* Energy supply – gas, electricity and renewable sources
* Escalators and lifts
* Heating including low-energy (low-temperature) solutions
* ventilation. This includes clean-room solutions (e.g. hospitals, labs) and industrial ventilation (factory spaces and processes)
* Air conditioning and other applications of refrigeration
* Electrical services:
* Low voltage (LV) systems, distribution boards and switchgear
* Communication lines, telephones and IT networks (ICT)
* Building automation
* Lightning protection
* Fire detection and protection
* Security and alarm systems
* Civil Engineering Public health services:
* Plumbing solutions for water supply, both potable cold water and DHW (domestic hot water),
* Drainage of waste water (sewage) from inside a building and drainage/treatment of external surface runoff around a building. Increasing use of grey-water recycling and solutions to delay runoff (e.g. green roofs and infiltration beds)
* Solutions for hygiene and sanitation, including cleaning, indoor air quality, and health technology (e.g. isolation wards)
* Other:
* Building-integrated features such as passive cooling
* Natural lighting and artificial lighting, and building facades
* Building physics, especially related to heat and moisture transfer, etc.
* Design of competition and Olympic swimming pools
* Design of pumping stations as well as pump houses
* Integrating, restoring and designing new building services for architectural conservation projects

Examples of roles/duties a Building Services Engineer may have include:

* Consultant Civil Engineer: Designing layouts and requirements for building services for residential or commercial developments. Design management is the business side of design, which aims to create the right environment to control and support a culture of creativity and innovation, and to embrace the iterative nature of design involving the many disciplines that, collectively, will deliver design solutions – and all at the same time as ensuring that an organisation's commercial goals and objectives are achieved and that all is done in an ethically sound way. Typically the building services engineering installation is worth 30–60% of the total value of a contract. Design management is not the same as project management. Project management focuses on a wider range of administrative skills but is not normally sympathetic to the peculiarities of delivering a fully coordinated functioning design, taking into account its unique nature and dealing with the changing requirements of clients and the external factors over which there is little control.[3]
* Contractor: Supervising the installation of the building services, commissioning systems. This includes tasks such as TABS.
* Facilities manager: Operation, servicing, and continuous commissioning of existing buildings and plant.

## Professional bodies

The two most notable professional bodies are:

* The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) was founded in 1894.
* The British Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) was founded in 1976 and received a Royal Charter in the United Kingdom , formally recognising building services engineering as a profession.

## Education

Building services engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering, architectural engineering, building services engineering, mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. The length of study for such a degree is usually 3–4 years for a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) and 4–5 years for a Master of Engineering (MEng).

In the United Kingdom, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) accredits university degrees in Building Services Engineering.[4] In the United States, ABET accredits degrees.[5]

## Building services engineering software

Many tasks in building services engineering involve the use of engineering software, for example to design/model or draw solutions. The most common types of tool are whole building energy simulation[6] and CAD (traditionally 2D) or the increasingly popular Building Information Modeling (BIM) which is 3D. 3D BIM software can have integrated tools for Building Services calculations such sizing ventilation ducts or estimating noise levels. Another use of 3D/4D BIM is that empowers more informed decision making and better coordination between different disciplines, such as 'collision testing'.

## See also

* American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
* Architectural engineering
* Building engineer
* Building Engineering Services Association
* Building enclosure commissioning
* BSRIA (Building Services Research and Information Association)
* Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
* Chartered Association of Building Engineers
* Construction management
* Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA - Excellence in Electrotechnical and Engineering Services)
* Electrical drawing
* Electrical engineering
* Environmental engineering
* Fire protection engineering
* Geotechnical engineering
* Hydraulic engineering
* Mechanical systems drawing
* Plumbing drawing
* Project management
* Quantity surveying
* Structural engineering
* Sustainable design
* Transportation engineering

## References

1. ↑ "IEA – International Energy Agency" (in en-GB). https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-products.
2. ↑ "Buildings". https://www.iea.org/buildings/.
3. ↑ Portman, Jackie (July 2014). Building Services Design Management. Oxford:UK: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1118528129.
4. ↑ "Accredited Courses". CIBSE. https://www.cibse.org/membership/accredited-courses/list-of-accredited-courses. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
5. ↑ Search All Accredited Programs
6. ↑ K. Mahmud, U. Amin, M.J. Hossain, J. Ravishankar, "Computational tools for design, analysis, and management of residential energy systems", Applied Energy, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.111

## External links

* ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
* BESA Building Engineering Services Association
* BSRIA The Building Services Research and Information Association
* CIBSE Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
* ECA ECA - Excellence in Electrotechnical and Engineering Services
* Modern Building Services journal
* Online Building Services Engineering Lecture Notes
* India
* School of Planning and Architecture, JNA & FAU, Hyderabad, India

* v
* t
* e

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

Fundamental concepts|

* Air changes per hour
* Bake-out
* Building envelope
* Convection
* Dilution
* Domestic energy consumption
* Enthalpy
* Fluid dynamics
* Gas compressor
* Heat pump and refrigeration cycle
* Heat transfer
* Humidity
* Infiltration
* Latent heat
* Noise control
* Outgassing
* Particulates
* Psychrometrics
* Sensible heat
* Stack effect
* Thermal comfort
* Thermal destratification
* Thermal mass
* Thermodynamics
* Vapour pressure of water

Technology|

* Absorption refrigerator
* Air barrier
* Air conditioning
* Antifreeze
* Automobile air conditioning
* Autonomous building
* Building insulation materials
* Central heating
* Central solar heating
* Chilled beam
* Chilled water
* Constant air volume (CAV)
* Coolant
* Dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS)
* Deep water source cooling
* Demand-controlled ventilation (DCV)
* Displacement ventilation
* District cooling
* District heating
* Electric heating
* Energy recovery ventilation (ERV)
* Firestop
* Forced-air
* Forced-air gas
* Free cooling
* Heat recovery ventilation (HRV)
* Hybrid heat
* Hydronics
* HVAC
* Ice storage air conditioning
* Kitchen ventilation
* Mixed-mode ventilation
* Microgeneration
* Natural ventilation
* Passive cooling
* Passive house
* Radiant heating and cooling system
* Radiant cooling
* Radiant heating
* Radon mitigation
* Refrigeration
* Renewable heat
* Room air distribution
* Solar air heat
* Solar combisystem
* Solar cooling
* Solar heating
* Thermal insulation
* Underfloor air distribution
* Underfloor heating
* Vapor barrier
* Vapor-compression refrigeration (VCRS)
* Variable air volume (VAV)
* Variable refrigerant flow (VRF)
* Ventilation

Components|

* Air conditioner inverter
* Air door
* Air filter
* Air handler
* Air ionizer
* Air-mixing plenum
* Air purifier
* Air source heat pumps
* Automatic balancing valve
* Back boiler
* Barrier pipe
* Blast damper
* Boiler
* Centrifugal fan
* Ceramic heater
* Chiller
* Condensate pump
* Condenser
* Condensing boiler
* Convection heater
* Compressor
* Cooling tower
* Damper
* Dehumidifier
* Duct
* Economizer
* Electrostatic precipitator
* Evaporative cooler
* Evaporator
* Exhaust hood
* Expansion tank
* Fan coil unit
* Fan filter unit
* Fan heater
* Fire damper
* Fireplace
* Fireplace insert
* Freeze stat
* Flue
* Freon
* Fume hood
* Furnace
* Furnace room
* Gas compressor
* Gas heater
* Gasoline heater
* Geothermal heat pump
* Grease duct
* Grille
* Ground-coupled heat exchanger
* Heat exchanger
* Heat pipe
* Heat pump
* Heating film
* Heating system
* High efficiency glandless circulating pump
* High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)
* High pressure cut off switch
* Humidifier
* Infrared heater
* Inverter compressor
* Kerosene heater
* Louver
* Mechanical fan
* Mechanical room
* Oil heater
* Packaged terminal air conditioner
* Plenum space
* Pressurisation ductwork
* Process duct work
* Radiator
* Radiator reflector
* Recuperator
* Refrigerant
* Register
* Reversing valve
* Run-around coil
* Scroll compressor
* Solar chimney
* Solar-assisted heat pump
* Space heater
* Smoke exhaust ductwork
* Thermal expansion valve
* Thermal wheel
* Thermosiphon
* Thermostatic radiator valve
* Trickle vent
* Trombe wall
* Turning vanes
* Ultra-low particulate air (ULPA)
* Whole-house fan
* Windcatcher
* Wood-burning stove

Measurement
and control|

* Air flow meter
* Aquastat
* BACnet
* Blower door
* Building automation
* Carbon dioxide sensor
* Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR)
* Gas sensor
* Home energy monitor
* Humidistat
* HVAC control system
* Intelligent buildings
* LonWorks
* Minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV)
* OpenTherm
* Programmable communicating thermostat
* Programmable thermostat
* Psychrometrics
* Room temperature
* Smart thermostat
* Thermostat
* Thermostatic radiator valve

Professions, trades,
and services|

* Architectural acoustics
* Architectural engineering
* Architectural technologist
* Building services engineering
* Building information modeling (BIM)
* Deep energy retrofit
* Duct leakage testing
* Environmental engineering
* Hydronic balancing
* Kitchen exhaust cleaning
* Mechanical engineering
* Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
* Mold growth, assessment, and remediation
* Refrigerant reclamation
* Testing, adjusting, balancing

Industry organizations|

* ACCA
* AHRI
* AMCA
* ASHRAE
* ASTM International
* BRE
* BSRIA
* CIBSE
* Institute of Refrigeration
* IIR
* LEED
* SMACNA

Health and safety|

* Indoor air quality (IAQ)
* Passive smoking
* Sick building syndrome (SBS)
* Volatile organic compound (VOC)

See also|

* ASHRAE Handbook
* Building science
* Fireproofing
* Glossary of HVAC terms
* World Refrigeration Day

* Template:Home automation
* Template:Solar energy

* v
* t
* e

Levels of academic degree

Undergraduate|

| ISCED level 5|

* Associate degree
* Foundation degree
* Higher National Diploma/​Diploma of Higher Education/​Certificate of Higher Education

|

ISCED level 6|

* Bachelor's degree
* Honours degree

Postgraduate|

| ISCED level 7|

* Master's degree
* Postgraduate diploma/​certificate
* Diplom degree
* Engineer's degree

|

ISCED level 8|

* Doctorate
* Candidate of Sciences

Other|

| Postdoctoral|

* Higher doctorate
* Doktor nauk
* Habilitation
* Docent
* Tenure
* Fellow

|

No dominant classification|

* Laurea
* Licentiate
* Magister degree
* Professional degree
* Graduate diploma/​certificate
* Higher diploma
* Specialist degree/​diploma
* Terminal degree

Unearned|

* Honorary degree
* Ad eundem degree

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