Chapter 1a-

Introduction to Building Services

MECHANICAL AND
ELETRICAL SERVICES I
(UGBA1373)
 Contents

1) Introduction to Building Services

2) Roles of Building Services
3) Environmental Factors
4) Design Intent of Building Services
5) Design Concept of Building Services
6) Design Factors of Building Services
What is Building Services?
Building Services
 Imagine yourself in the most fabulous
building in the world. Now take away the
lighting, air-conditioning, ventilation, the lifts
and escalators, acoustics, plumbing, power
supply and energy management systems, the
security and safety systems…and you are left
with a hot, dark, uninhabitable and
unliveable shell.
Building Services
 Everything inside a building which makes it
safe and comfortable to be in comes under
the title of “Building Services”.
 A building must does what is was designed to
do- not just provide shelter but also be an
environment where people can live, work
and achieve.
Building Services
 Engineering principles that are applied to
the construction and built environment.
 Responsible for the artificial environment in
which we live and work, and associated with
that the environmental condition of our planet.
 It has evolved in response to the demands of
population growth and the expectation of
comfortable shelter, convenience and a
healthy home and workplace environment.
Building Services are “what makes
a building come to life”
 They include:
 energy supply- gas, electricity and renewable
sources
 heating and air conditioning
 water, drainage and plumbing
 natural and artificial lighting, and building facades
 escalators and lifts
 ventilation and refrigeration
 communication line, telephones and IT networks
 security and alarm systems
 fire detection and protection
Components of Building Services
Mechanical services
 Water supply and
distribution
 Sanitary plumbing and
drainage system
 Stormwater system
 Water treatment
 Sewage treatment
 Heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning (HVAC)
 Fire protection
 Gas supply
 Others
Electrical services
 Electrical power
 Lighting
 Telecommunication
 Security systems
 Signal equipment
 Others
Building operation system
 Escalators , lifts and
travelators, etc
 Processing- product, food
services
 Environmental controls
Roles of Building Services

 Comfort and amenity

 Safe and healthy life
 Environmentally friendly
 Comfort has been defined as “that condition of mind
that expresses satisfaction with the ... environment”

 The constitution of the World Health Organisation

defines good health as “... a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the
absence of disease and infirmity”

 Environmentally friendly is term used to refer to

“goods and services claimed to inflict reduced,
minimal, or no harm at all, upon ecosystems or the
environment”
Environmental Factors
 Thermal
 proper space temperature, humidity and
ventilation
 Air quality
 zero or minimum dusts and pollutants
 Air motion
 appropriate air velocity
 Sound
 acoustics condition
Environmental Factors
 Visual
 better lighting in/ out
 Water supply
 available, clean and healthy
 Waste disposal and treatment
 high quality sanitation, proper waste
treatment
 Protection of life and property
 reliable security system
Comfort Index for Building Design

 Tempd.b. – 5 to 25 degree C

 Relative humidity – 40% to 70%

 Air velocity < 0.2 m/s

 Sound level – 30 to 70 dB(A)

 Light – 50 to 10000 lux

Comfort Index for Building Design
TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY SOUND LIGHTING

Dry Bulb temperature Relative Humidity Sound Level Illuminance

100C 100% 140 dB(A) 50000 lux

Boiling point Saturated air Threshold of pain Sunlight
water

Summer's day Humid day Busy office Shop display

25C 70% 70 dB 10000 lux

400 lux
Comfort Range Comfort Range Comfort Range
office lighting

5C 40% 30 dB 50 lux
Winter's day Dry day Quiet room Hallway

0C 0% 0 dB(A) 0 lux
Freezing point Dry air Threshold of No light
hearing
Design Intent of Building Services
 Design intent outlines the expected high-level
outcomes of the design process.
 Examples of design intents of building services:-
-The building will provide outstanding comfort for its
occupants.
-The design will consider the latest in information
technology.
-The building will be green, with a focus on indoor
environmental quality.
-The building will be carbon neutral.
-The building will provide a high degree of flexibility
or convenience for its occupants.
Design Intent of Building Services
 Clear design intents are important because they
set the tone for design efforts, allow all
members of the design team to understand
what is truly critical to success, provide a
general direction for early design efforts, and
put key or unusual design concerns on the
table.
Design Concept of Building Services
 Inter-relationship between building services
design and overall building design in translation
of occupancy requirements into practical design
solutions through engineering principles.
 Occupancy requirements can be influenced by:-
 Livingstandards of the society
 Climatic conditions of the region
 Occupancy and quality of the building
Considerations of Building Services
Design
1. Codes & Standards
2. Costs
3. Passive & Active Approaches
4. Energy Efficiency
5. Green Building
6. Sustainability
7. Regenerative
1. Codes & Standards
 The design of virtually every building will be
influenced by codes and standards.
 Codes are government mandated and
enforced documents that stipulate minimum
acceptable building practices.
 For example, fire protection requirements,
may be enforced separately from general
building construction requirement or energy
performance requirements.
 Codes may be written in prescriptive language
or in performance terms.
1. Codes & Standards (cont’)
 A prescriptive code defines means and
methods. Example of prescriptive code
requirements include minimum R-values for
roof insulation and minimum pipe sizes for roof
drainage system.
 By contrast, a performance code defines intent.
Example of performance code requirements
include a maximum permissible design heat
flow through a building envelope, a minimum
design rainfall that can be safely drained from a
building roof and a defined wind speed that will
not damage a roof construction.
1. Codes & Standards (cont’)
 There are four model codes - Uniform Building
Code, Standard Building Code, Basic Building
Code, and National Building Code.
1. Codes & Standards (cont’)
 Standard are documents that present a set of
minimum requirement for some aspect of
building design that have been developed by a
recognized authority (i.e. National Fire
Protection Association).
 Standard do not carry the weight of government
enforcement that codes do, but they are often
incorporated into codes via reference.
 Standards play an important role in building
design and are often used by legal authorities to
define the level of care expected of design
professional.
2. Costs
 Costs are a historic influence on the design
process.
 One of the strictest limits on design flexibility
is the maximum construction budget imposed
by the client.
 First cost –for an owner to acquire the keys
to completed building. -Usually expressed as
a maximum allowable construction cost or as
a cost per unit area.
 Life-cycle cost – the cost for an owner to
acquire and use a building for some defined
period of time. – It is generally important than
first cost, but is often ignored by owners and
usually not well understood by designers.
2. Costs (cont’)
 The primary difficulties in implementing life-cycle
cost analysis are estimating future expenses and
the uncertain future condition.
 Operating and maintenance costs- can far
exceed the cost to construct or acquire a
building.
3. Passive & Active Approaches
 Development of passive systems must begin
early in the design process, and requires early
and continuous attention from the designer.
 Passive system operation will often require the
cooperation and involvement of building
occupants and users.
 Some active and passive characteristics will be
discuss as per following:-
3. Passive & Active Approaches (cont’)
 Energy source
Passive System
Uses no purchased energy
example: Daylighting system

Active System
Uses primarily purchased energy
example: Electric lighting system
3. Passive & Active Approaches (cont’)
 System Components
Passive System
Components play multiple roles
example: Concrete floor slab that is structure,
walking surface, solar collector/storage

Active System
Component is single-purpose elements
example: Gas furnace
3. Passive & Active Approaches (cont’)
 System integration
Passive System
System is tightly integrated (often inseparably)
with the overall building design
example: Natural ventilation system using
windows
Active System
System is usually not well integrated with the
overall building design (add-on)
example: Window air-conditioning unit
4. Energy Efficiency
System Output
Energy Efficiency 
System Input
 Goal – reduce amount of energy required to provide and
services.
 Attempt to use less energy to accomplish a given
design objective (such as thermal control and adequate
lighting).
 Insulating a home allows use less heating and cooling
energy to achieve or maintain a comfortable
temperature.
 Energy efficiency requirements are addressed by
several model codes and standards (incl. International
Energy Code and Model Energy Code)
Energy conservation – saving energy by using less
4. Energy Efficiency

 Compact fluorescent lamp (energy saving light)

 Designed to replace an incandescent lamp and can
fit into most existing light fixtures formerly used for
incandescent.
 Compared to general service incandescent lamps
giving the same amount of visible light, CFLs use
less power and have a longer rated life.
4. Energy Efficiency (cont’)

 Residential buildings
Min envelope (walls, floors, roofs, doors,
windows)
Min performance of Mechanical equipment
(heating, cooling, domestic hot water)
 Commercial / Institutional buildings
Building system (lighting and electrical
distribution)
5. Green Building

 Green buildings are designed to reduce the

overall impact of the built environment on
human health and natural environment by:
 Efficiently using energy, water, and other
resources
 Protecting occupant health and improving
employee productivity
 Reducing waste, pollution and environmental
degradation
5. Green Building (cont’)
 Green design is to address both local and global
impacts of building energy, water, and materials
usage.
 Incorporate concern for the health and well-
being of building occupants/users and respect
for the larger global environment.
 Maximize the beneficial impacts and minimize
the negative impacts.
6. Sustainability
 Meeting the needs of today’s generation without
detracting from the ability of future generation
to meet their needs.
 Essentially long-term survival.
 Survival of an existing standard of living into
future generations.
 From an energy, water, and materials standpoint,
sustainability can be argued to require zero net
use of nonrenewable resources.
6. Sustainability (cont’)

 Pattern of resource use that aims to meet

human needs while preserving the
environment so that these needs can be met
not only in the present, but also for generations
to come.
7. Regenerative
 The term "regenerative" describes processes
that restore, renew or revitalize their own
sources of energy and materials, creating
sustainable systems that integrate the needs
of society with the integrity of nature.
 To product a net positive environmental impact
– to leave the world better off with respect to
energy, water, and material resources.
Regenerative vs. Sustainable
 Regenerative and Sustainable are essentially the
same thing except for a one key point, if the world
were to become regenerative or sustainable,
under the term sustainable, lost ecological
systems are not returned to existence. Under
regenerative those lost systems can ultimately
begin "regenerating" back into existence.
THE END