Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

I have put my nose back to the grindstone after a short cameo as a ski instructor, starting my design office placement working for Bryden Wood Technology Ltd; a small design consultancy of around 130 people based in North London.  The practice is focused on architectural design; however has a MEP team of around 20 who handle both the technical elements of multi-discipline projects and some stand-alone MEP projects.  This blog is a short intro to what I will be doing over the coming two months.

My approach could be called unique….. It certainly isn’t efficient at the moment.

The first project I have got involved with is the construction of two leisure centers in North London; Copthall and New Barnet.  Both jobs have progressed to ‘RIBA stage 3’ (developed design) by a different contractor and over the next couple of months our team will move it on to the next stage, producing a detailed technical design.  So far this process seems like a chilled-out version of the PET building services project; producing the loads, air changes and lighting requirements for each room and sizing plant and luminaires to meet the demands.

Anyone for a swim?  North London…. bring a stab-vest.

I have been occupied for the first week designing the fabric of the building and selecting equipment to fulfill the requirements of Part L of the building regs (fuel and energy efficiency).  The output of this process is a building energy certificate (or EPC) which is required to allow planning consent to continue as well as provide operating information for the end users.  This is all carried out on a government-approved computer program called IES, which is basically a modern version of Hevacomp for grown-ups.  Like much of the work in a design office, you are not efficient until you are conversant with the CAD.

The project is a big one for the MEP team, containing a chemical dosing and UV installation (for the swimming pools), a small CHP plant and a rooftop solar array.  The project is fully ‘BIMed’, and uses Revit and subsequently Navisworks as the main platforms to accomplish the design co-ordination. The project is forecast to finish by the end of March – it should be a good exercise to get used to the CAD programs and the processes that take place in a design office.

Diesel generator + exhaust hot water heater = fuel efficiency.  Doesn’t come cheap though.

Its early days, but so far the design office has been a bit of a culture shock compare to the site placement; to compare notes with the other ‘PETs’ I include some initial impressions:

• The nature of the work is very compartmentalised and ordered compared to the site placement. The hierarchy is well established and roles are well defined; with the discipline directors in immediate contact with their project teams.  It seems it will be very different to the firefighting I became accustomed to on site.
• The financial aspect of a design is well defined; the company carefully measures the effort it expends on each project and scales effort to the agreed fee (generally fixed price); it is a big deal to ask for extra cash from the client. Again in sharp contrast to Crossrail!
• The office is simultaneously dealing with a large number of projects (in excess of 50); a number of these designs are scoping or concept only and will not be built; this is particularly the case for jobs in the pharmaceutical industry.
• The majority of the work is dictated by design standards, building regulations, codes of practices, etc.
• A lot of the thinking is done by computer programs which are not that intuitive to use.  Hand calcs are done for initial estimates only, on a spreadsheet.
• Google Sketchup is awesome and industry uses it a lot…. This is likely to be the only program I can remember how to use when I come back to the Army.

Happy New Year