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Construction project electrical and mechanical building services design and management. Electrical and mechanical systems condition reporting. Alternate energy (wind, solar, ground heat, recovered rainwater, etc.) systems.

Building Concept - heat loss / gain

In order to meet Building Regulations requirements, any new, or refurbished, building has to meet certain standards to ensure that its heat-use patterns meet national standards and, in fact, ideally improve upon them as the standards are actually the minimum criteria requirements that have to be met.

There are many different ways to achieve these ends and it is inappropriate here to allude to all of these various methods and techniques, suffice to mention the need.

When undertaking the design / re-design of any building, due regard should be taken of all of the site's physical attributes and the building should take advantage of the site, wherever possible, to maximise what Nature has given it, in terms of orientation, elevation, slopes, gradients and ground geology.

What is important is that all strands of the building design - architect, interior design, landscape designer, structural engineer, building services and lighting engineers all understand the design concept, its “whys" and “wherefores", and utilise all currently available techniques to ensure minimum energy use, both within it's construction and in it's use, combined with the maximum effectiveness, and use, of as much of what “Mother Nature" provides as it is possible and practicable for the particular project to accommodate.

In addition to ensuring that any building is protected against undue heat losses (and gains) - INSULATION, the structure should be as air-tight as is possible to ensure minimum losses through cold air infiltration and warm air escape.

However, the use of artificial heating and ventilation should always be supplemental to the correct use of natural methods wherever this is possible to achieve and should not lead it.

Equipment and furniture (as well as ensuring protection against any potential hazardous situations) should be arranged in such a way as to utilise natural ventilation to its maximum advantage, whilst protecting the subject against drafts and other cold air ingresses.

The use of ground air tubes and stack ventilation are both methods of bringing fresh air into the space with a degree of pre-heating and both help to reduce the reliance upon mechanical forced-air extract ventilation.

Whilst increasing the air-tightness of buildings, could bring with it other problems such as stale, vitiated air, mould growth and increased humidity, it does bring with it, the opportunity to carefully control the condition of the air within certain limits within the building so that undue energy is not wasted in protecting against uncontrolled heat losses / gains from and into it , without resorting to full-blown air-conditioning.