MEP#
As a MEP consultant, you will work on building services and building energy. Your purpose is to ensure low energy consumption and good indoor climate concerning both thermal and atmospheric air quality as well as day lighting conditions.
Your task as MEP consultant is to define the technical design parameters of the building and ensure integration in the overall design together with the other consultants. Your main input is making design concepts for daylighting, heating, cooling and ventilation that fits with the needs and requirements of the other subjects. You will make different alternative solutions that takes into account the dynamic nature of a design process. Your input deeply impacts
room dimensions to ensure daylight and space for ducting, piping etc
façade design to ensure low energy and thermal conditions
space management for technical equipment
At the same time, you must define a concept for the room comfort system that can be integrated in the project.
You will document that you fulfill the requirements for daylight, thermal conditions and energy consumption. Space management is also an important point where you need to document that you can fit technical installations in both technical rooms, shafts and on floors.
In the early phases you need to coordinate with the other consultants. Not least architecture but also structure and PM. A design process like this has an iterative nature and often you end up in dead ends where you must be able to adapt the design parameters to meet external requirements while you must be sure to also meet your own objectives to maintain the overall project quality. Keep in mind that the right combination of design parameters in the very early phase of the process is the only way to ensure that satisfactory indoor climate and low energy consumption while ensuring long-term operation of the building.
Chief Consultants: Christian Anker Hviid and Peter Weitzmann
MEP Skills
Assignments
Requirements
Interdisciplinary
Your Skills#
Experience in the integrated design process to concurrently meet requirements for daylight, thermal comfort, energy
Knowledge of room comfort systems for setting up concepts together with other consultants
Knowledge of ducting systems for mainly ventilation to establish space requirements
U-value calculation of building envelope including thermal bridges
BIM modelling of technical equipment
Thermal simulations using IDA ICE including parameter variations
Using BIM tools and ensure input o space planning
Energy calculations using Be18
Chief Consultants can support…#
The design process is complex and often you need to understand the needs of the other consultants in the team. The chief consultants can help you prepare better for the coordination task.
Strategies for optimizing output of meetings with other consultants in your team to ensure good teamwork.
Prioritizing your time. You have to be strict in your deliverables and we’re here to help you do that
Giving feedback on design
Choosing between different design alternatives
General quality assurance of work
You will need to independently#
Set up different design alternatives
Ensure project progress including meetings with the rest of the design team
Thermal simulations
Daylight simulations
BIM-models
Remember you are the expert of your building and the design requirements. As chief consultants we can only guide you in deciding the best solution.
Assignments#
Part A#
Plan and Team Contract#
Firstly, make an initial plan for your deliverables including deadlines to be coordinated in the PM group. As part of this, also do observe the needs of the other subjects which should be included in your subject work. That is your plan should include collaborative requirements both “in” and “out” of your subject.
In the initial phase you will establish the main design parameters. That is; initial space management for technical rooms/floors, shafts. The concept for heating, cooling and ventilation. Input to design of windows, floor height, and thermal mass. A helpful approach is to keep the BEATS as guideline for your subject work and input for coordination with other subjects.
Consider the following points to help you in making the project plan.
Detail the success criteria (energy class, daylight factors, indoor climate category (I, II or III))
What are the expected analyses you need to perform? Which tools? Most likely IDA ICE and Be18, but you need to describe what parameter variations you want to be part of the overall design. Examples are room height, ventilation concept, need for solar shading and similar. But the actual work depends on your project and focus area.
Outline expected interfaces with the work from the other subjects?
Describe alternative solutions (preferably in a sketch) so you are ready for design changes.
How do you plan to ventilate the building? The space needed is important for other subjects in their work and planning.
Make an outline for the content of the 13 week report. Notice that all this is only an outline of the EXPECTED work. Deviations and changes are allowed - especially if it is because you have come to new realisations!
Part B#
Drawings#
Provide MEP input to integrated drawings. Remember to include:
Initial parameter variations of the building envelope with focus on your optimal solution.
Expected energy supply system in building (heating and cooling)
Ventilation concept.
Section of floor from floor to floor
Targets to be reached.
Part C#
C Consultant Report#
The consultant report at the end of the 13 week period should be a status document, where you outline the building design with focus on the MEP subject. That is you should describe; daylight, thermal conditions, space management, energy frame. The coordination of your input should be clear.
In total the MEP consultant report should document the status of the building design. That is, it should include energy demand in the building together with the energy supply and distribution system, define the energy concept of the building. It must be based on the optimization and included in a Be18 and IDA ICE calculation to document that the main requirements can be met.
We do know that this is work in progress, which will be changed in the 3-week period (Part D), but the more you have done at this time, the better off you are to start the sprint.
BE18 Calculation#
A Be18 calculation showing the energy frame with the chosen building and energy concept should be included. All important input should be commented in the documentation report. Typically, the most important input is:
Areas
U-values of building envelope
the window U- and g-value and light transmittance
solar shading
ventilation data (all of them)
daylight factor
heat pump units (if used)
PV-panels (if used)
solar thermal (if used)
Energy and Indoor Climate#
Describe the energy concept and indoor climate in the consultant report.
The energy concept must include a description of how you plan to ventilate, heat and cool the building in the form of a sketch of the supply of all technical installations (heating, cooling, hot water, circulation, cold water, sprinkling, sewage). It should include the preferred solution, but also mention alternatives.
The indoor climate must be documented through a sensitivity analysis of the different parameters using IDA ICE. The sensitivity analysis must include multiple parameters taken from the list above and be based on the introduction given in the course.
Detailed considerations of the boundary conditions towards other subject groups must be included. This includes space needed for ventilation ducts, vertical and horizontal HVAC routing, window dimensions, required U-value of walls, ceiling and floor, operation data for the facility management (only very superficial) and so on….
Ventilation Ducts#
If the ventilation ducting has been decided, 3D drawings of ventilation ducts could be made using Revit MEP or similar on one floor in the building. See requirements for the 3-week BIM output for details. Relevant sections should be shown in the report.
C BIM#
Give input to the BIM model. This should contain: basement technical room (volumetric elements representing each parts should be added), the entire design in the core of the building, hot and cold areas, the pipes and ventilation in the core has to be detailed from the basement technical area to the top of the building, fans and installations on top of the building. one complete designed floor of your choice with ducts, air vents, heating, cooling (suggested to be the floor you choose as a team to detail for all subjects)=> a chosen floor detailed fully containing all subjects elements.
Part D#
Consultant Report#
A final description of the chosen concepts for:
Final technical systems layout
Documented indoor climate (mostly concerning IAQ - indoor air quality - and thermal environment - hours above 26 °C and 27 °C for a number of exposed rooms and day-light in workspaces) 3.Final Be18-calculation.
Thermal environment and energy consumption must show compliance with design targets.
Further the reporting should contain detailed requirements or actual products for:
Constructions (details on how to achieve the required U-value)
Windows (U- and g-values)
Ventilation system (if mechanical: dimensions and lay-out. At least one floor and the vertical ducting must be shown. If natural: openings and airflow patterns). In both cases this must be shown in drawings using e.g. Revit MEP.
other systems (heat pumps, solar thermal, PV, district heating, boreholes and so on and so forth)
Ventilation ducts#
3D drawings of ventilation ducts could be made using Revit MEP or similar on one floor in the building. At least two critical sections should be shown in the scale relevant for showing the sections, to document that there is sufficient room for the ducts. Typically 1:50 or higher. Normally the critical sections are found where supply and return ducts intersect or right after exiting/entering the shaft. Further you should show the main ducts for ventilation in the building (not including the distribution ducts on the floors), including ventilation units and intakes/outlets.
D BIM#
Should be updated with the final solution of the project including heating, cooling, ventilation, shaft layout, technical rooms (placement and layout), branching in and out of the shafts (is there room enough). Required spaces for building services elements. Include a detailed model of ventilation system at an office floor and main vertical services in the core. Choose 1 floor level from the above-detailed ones and add all your HVAC components. Create volume delimitation (boxes with names on it – ask PM Subject for the explanation if needed) in the basement technical floor representing space division for the components. Vertical Inlet and Outlet ventilation from the basement to the top of the building based on your design criteria have to be included (is it continuous or not?). Basically a full representation of your work with the level of detail agreed with PM and or requested by the client.
Requirements#
Facade and room dimensions#
Design the facade focusing on:
Glazing share of the facade
The sun shading system, you should consider
Visual comfort (glare etc. - Check DS_EN 17037)
Good daylighting conditions using Daylight Autonomy (DS_EN 17037) which defines room depth and number of possible work spaces
Room height
Avoid overheating
Tech floor basement#
Initially use rule of thumb to establish the need for space for technical installations in the basement. This must be communicated to the other subjects. An initial layout of the functions should be included in the drawings. Do consider how to get from technical room to shaft (e.g. ventilation ducts take up a lot of room)
Energy frame#
The energy requirements to be fulfilled in the project is equal to those put forward in the Building Code preferably including energy frame requirements from the low energy class.
Indoor climate#
The thermal and atmospheric indoor climate must correspond to at least Category II in EN 15251.
Daylight#
Daylight requirements at workspaces are important. Meeting rooms and corridors have no formal daylight requirements but should nevertheless be treated anyways.
Adjust the footprint of the building so workspaces have daylight and avoid unusable space. Keep in mind the fact that the surroundings influence the conditions – both other buildings and your building will give shades. Daylight must meet the minimum requirements based on the Danish building code.
Solutions with high levels of daylight autonomy are preferred by the Client. You can use daylight autonomy actively to reduce window size and cooling load in highly solar loaded rooms.
Daylight Autonomy#
Solutions with high levels of daylight autonomy are preferred by the Client. You can use daylight autonomy actively to reduce window size and cooling load in highly solar loaded rooms.
Acoustic Requirements#
Acoustic requirements according to national Danish regulation.
Comfort supply concept#
Heating, cooling and ventilation can be supplied to the room in a number of different ways. They each have different advantages and disadvantages in terms of energy, indoor climate and space requirements. You need to ensure that you choose a system which can be integrated with the other consultants.
Thermal simulations#
The optimal combination of low energy consumption and good indoor climate (including daylight) must be found using parameter variations. This should be done using IDA ICE (or similar). The purpose is to find optimal set of parameters in combination with the other design requirements by the other subjects. Notice that “optimal” includes the input of other subjects, so that you need to work with “nearly optimal” solutions for your subject. Therefore you must do parameter variations where you identify these nearly optimal solutions that you can use to get to the best overall solution.
This sensitivity analysis is a major input from subject 3 to the discussion and shaping/design of the building. The data from the following table must be used in setting up the thermal simulations.
You must decide on your simulation approach. You should work with both exposed and average rooms to find the total solution. You cannot (and should not) simulate all rooms in the building. But rather a representation of the important rooms. That means some a left out. You must therefore have a plan for which rooms are represented by which simulations and map these. Can for instance an East facing meeting room represent a West facing meeting room so that you have a total overview of the needs of the building.
The data from the following table must be used in setting up the thermal simulations.
Room |
m2 pr. person |
Watt/person |
Equipment Watt/person |
Lighting W/m2 |
Other equipment W/m2 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Landscape office |
8 |
90 |
90 |
5 |
3 |
Note 3,5 |
Single office |
10 |
90 |
90 |
7 |
3 |
|
Print and copying room |
100 |
100 |
Note 6 |
|||
Reception |
20 |
8 |
3 |
|||
Canteen |
1.5 |
90 |
5 |
3 |
Note 1 |
|
Kitchen incl. secondary spaces |
3 |
Note 2 |
||||
Meeting rooms |
2 |
90 |
25 |
8 |
20 |
Note 4 |
Note
Note 1: Area calculated excluding buffet area.
Note 2: Heat gain determined after kitchen design.
Note 3: The following occupancy load is used:
Kl. 8-11 80 %
Kl. 11-13 25 % (lunch break)
Kl. 13-16 80 %
Kl. 16-17 25 %
Note 4: The following occupancy load is used in meeting rooms:
Kl. 8-12 100 %
Kl. 12-13 0 % (lunch break)
Kl. 13-15 100 %
Kl. 15-17 50 %
Note 5: The area includes the whole floor area including corridors, walking areas, break-out spaces etc. In practice the occupancy load in the landscape office is probably 6-7 m2/person.
Note 6: Concurrency means that the load in the printer rooms from equipment will be 20 W/m²
Generally#
Equipment: comprise laptops and screens and other person-related equipment like IP-telephone, mobile charger, height adjustable desks etc.
Other equipment: comprise load from equipment that is not person-related, like projectors, flat screens, photocopiers, printers etc. Comprise also standby-load from building control systems like sensors, motors, actuators, wi-fi etc., totalling 3 W/m².
There are no smokers in the entire building.
Heating and cooling#
The energy supply system must supply heating and cooling to the building to meet the demand at design conditions.
The room heat supply can be by radiators, convectors, floor heating or other that integrates well with the other building services. Heat production should be from district heating, however supplement from e.g. heat pumps and/or direct hot water heating should be considered. Cooling preferably from district cooling using a COP of 5.
It is important to show that the heating and cooling system in the rooms of the building are able to supply sufficient heating and cooling. This must be documented based on simulations for cooling in selected rooms (taken from the thermal simulations based on the chosen design parameters from the sensitivity analyses). For heating it should be documented that the building can uphold 20C with -12C outdoor, as described in DS418.
You must include the total size of the dimensioning heating and cooling requirements in the entire building – so that the designers know how large the heat exchanger for heating and cooling in the building should be. In case you miss information for the entire building, you must make assumptions – which should be described.
Space management in shafts#
The space required in the shafts should be considered and included in the design. You should also be aware that the other installations such as sewage, water, electrical cabling and garbage should also be considered. You should not make detailed design in your project, but you must make sure that there is room for this. Notice that the pressure zones in a high-rise building mean that you need more than one set of pipes for e.g. heating, cooling and water supply. You should work closely with PM and Architecture consultants for this.
Space management on floors#
On the floors the input from MEP is to make sure that the design ensures acceptable indoor climate fulfilling the requirements. As part of this, the space required for technical installations (mainly due to ventilation) must be sufficiently included in the design. This is the case in both a vertical and horizontal direction.
Space management in basement#
Make sure that there is sufficient space for the technical installations in the basement. There should be allocated areas for heating, cooling, fire station, ventilation (if applicable), sewage, electrical switchboards. The layout should enable seamless integration with the shafts.
Maintenance access#
Optimal access to technical installations in plant rooms and along ducts and pipes.
DGNB#
Integration#
MEP -> Architecture#
The work in your subject will initially be in close cooperation with Architecture where the main design parameters of the building should be established. That is; floor plans (including space for technical installations), design of windows, floor height, ventilation concept, heating and cooling system (especially if building integrated solutions are used), and thermal mass. Keep in mind that establishing the right combination of design parameters in the very early phase of the process is the only way to ensure that satisfactory indoor climate and low energy consumption in the building can be made possible.
As you do not fully have this information early, you need to use rules of thumb as input to the other subjects in order to get them going. An example of this coordination is to estimate how much space is required for the ventilation system and other technical installations in both the horizontal (on the floor) and vertical direction (shafts). Later on you will improve the estimates as you gain more detailed design knowledge.
MEP -> Structures#
It is important very early on to establish the floor height including room height, deck construction and the cavity above the suspended ceiling (if you have one). This needs input from architecture, MEP and structure.
Beams in façade take window height and daylight. Are there designated spaces for routing of installations? Do installations collide with columns or beams? E.g. are the radiator pipes at the façade blocked by columns or do beams block the ducting?
Do the structural elements create thermal bridges through the insulated building envelope? This is relevant for façade but also for roof or basement floors that separates warm space from parking space.
Do the installation have to go through structural components, and is that a structural problem? Small holes in some parts of the beam is often acceptable
MEP -> Geotech#
City water, sewage, electricity, power, internet, heating (and sometimes cooling) come to the building through the ground. Service stations in basement are necessary.
Allocate space for city services in basement. Allocate space for horizontal routing from service stations to shafts. Consider potential collisions with beams/columns and consider if routing is on the heated or cold side of the building envelope (heated side is better). *
Possibly allocate space for ventilation units in basement. Ventilation units need fresh air intake and exhaust at ground level and connections to shafts.
Consider other functions in basement that needs MEP: fitness, dancehall, showers, changing rooms, depots and archives, cleaning rooms, server rooms etc.
Parking space needs fans to extract pollution
MEP -> Materials#
MEP has only small impact on materials, but has significant share of the overall LCA, because operation energy constitutes approx. ½ of the total energy that goes into a building over the lifetime. From an LCA perspective it is crucial to minimise operation energy.
Also thermal mass or rather lack of thermal mass, because lighter materials are more sustainable, requires MEP to be more vigilant when determining design parameters as less thermal mass impacts indoor climate and sometimes energy.
MEP -> PM/ICT#
MEP constitutes a significant share of total costs. Air-borne heating and cooling may be cheap to purchase but occupies more rentable space than hydronic h/c systems. Therefore, the MEP has to coordinate with the PM from cost perspective, BIM Model quality assurance and space management. Be aware of the waste management system you chose, to remove the waste from the building and coordinate the height of the basement accordingly. MEP, Fire and PM.