Building Services Management For Internal Environment

Describe the Building Services Management For Internal Environment.

Proposed Mechanical Services

Building services are different types of engineering systems, equipment and products that are designed and installed in buildings so as to make them functional, efficient, safe, environmental friendly and comfortable for occupants (Portman, 2014). These systems play a major role in controlling internal environment of the building. The increased awareness of global climate change and fluctuating comfort needs of occupants have made integration of building services in modern buildings to be of great important. As a result of this, it is very important to ensure that suitable building services are identified at very early stages of the project so as to incorporate them in the design process of the building and prevent clashes with other components of the building (Chadderton, 2012). The building services should also be designed, installed and used by following the building standards, codes, regulations, procedures and practices (Hall & Greeno, 2015).

Mechanical services comprise of systems that are designed and installed in buildings so as to provide optimal thermal comfort and maintain the desired internal temperature and air quality. The proposed mechanical services for the building is heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. This is the system that will maintain safety and comfort of building occupants by facilitating flow of fresh air throughout the building. The system maintains high air quality in the building by controlling indoor temperature and oxygen replenishment, and removing moisture, smoke, odors, dust, carbon dioxide, heat, airborne bacteria, etc. Heating and cooling system that can be used include: chiller, heat pump or furnace or boiler. Ventilation can be provided by a combination of natural ventilation and forced or mechanical ventilation systems (fans, bathroom and kitchen exhausts, etc.). Air handling units (AHUs), such as standalone air conditioners, can be used to provide the required air conditioning for the building. In case of a chiller, an efficient refrigerant should be used to produce chilled water for supply to AHUs. All these mechanical services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. The main standards that will be used for design, installation and operation of mechanical services are AS/NZS 1668 set – The use of ventilation and air conditioning in buildings.     

These services include energy supply and energy distribution systems. The building requires energy for several uses and therefore it must be adequately supplied with it. The building will be supplied with electricity, gas (compressed natural gas or liquid petroleum gas) and solar energy. Electricity will be obtained from the national grid and distributed to all rooms for various uses such as lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, etc. The gas will be obtained from a designated storage tank and piped to the kitchen and other rooms for cooking, air conditioning, cleaning and water heating. The gas supply system should also be equipped with an automatic control system, gas pressure meter, warning system and communication system. Solar panels will be installed on the roof of the building or parking to generate solar energy. The building is located in an area with high potential of solar energy and this should be capitalized. It is also recommended to consider use of wind energy and geothermal heat pump. Any surplus energy can be kept in an energy storage for later use or sold to the national grid. The general electrical services can be similar to the schematic diagram in Figure 1 below. The electrical services will comprise of all equipment, fixtures and connections used in the supply and distribution of power into the building. This includes power distribution boards, electricity meters, cables, sockets, switches, etc. All these electrical services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. Some of the standards to be used for electrical services include: AS/AZS 3000:2007 – Electrical installations; AS/AZS 3012:2010 – Electrical installations, AS/NZS 3017:2007 – Electrical installations; AS/NZS 3760:2010 – In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment; AS/NZS 4836:2011 – Safe working on low-voltage electrical installations and equipment; Electrical Safety Act 2002; and Electrical Safety Regulation 2013. 

Proposed Electrical Services

These include both artificial and natural lighting systems. The building will capitalize on daylighting by use of windows, light shelves or skylights to save energy. Artificial lighting system will comprise of indoor and outdoor light fixtures (LED bulbs and lamps), switches, etc. Since the artificial lighting systems consume energy, they will be integrated with electrical services. Emergency lighting will also be included. All the lighting services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. Specific standards that will be used for lighting services include: AS/NZS 1680 Set – Interior lighting and workplace lighting; and AS/NZS 2293.1 – Emergency evacuation lighting for buildings (Part 1, 2 and 3).  

These are systems that are associated with the supply and distribution of water to the building and removal of wastewater to the treatment or municipal wastewater systems. In other words, they are the water and drainage systems of the building. The proposed plumbing services for the building include: water storage tank, cold water system, hot water system, sanitary drainage system, rainwater system, showers, sinks and toilets. Figure 2 below shows a typical layout of water, plumbing and drainage services in a building. All the water, plumbing and drainage systems should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA) standards (especially AS/NZS 3500 set, including AS/NZS 3500.1:2003 – Plumbing and drainage, AS/NZS 3500.4:2015 – Plumbing and Drainage and AS/NZS 3500.5:2000 – Planning and Drainage) are the main standard that will be used for water, plumbing and drainage services.    

These are systems that are designed to protect the building against fire. The fire protection services will comprise of the following: smoke detection, heat detection, fire control room, fire hose reels, fire extinguishers; hydrants, mimic panels, evacuation signage and signals, break glass station, automatic fire sprinklers, fire brigade booster points, first air fire protection, fire alarm system, etc. The fire protection services shall comprise of both passive and active systems, as shown in Figure 3 below. Each of these components shall be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. Some of the standards that will be used during design, construction and use of fire detection and protecting services are: AS 1851 – Service and maintenance of fire protection equipment; AS 1670 – Automatic fire detection systems and alarm systems; AS 2293 – Emergency escape lighting and exit signs; AS/NZS 1841 – Portable fire extinguishers; AS 4655 – Fire safety audits; AS 3745 – Planning for fire emergencies in buildings; AS 2188 – Automatic fire sprinkler system; AS 2941 – Installation of fixed fire protection; and AS 2419.1-2005: Fire hydrant installations.   

These are mainly information, communication and technology (ICT) networks that comprise of telephones, communication lines, and information technology networks. The proposed systems for the building comprise of data and voice systems. They include telephone lines, wireless phones, sound systems, paging systems, analog and digital video systems, internet cables, computer networks in function and meeting rooms, antenna systems, information systems, etc. The main categories of communication systems suitable for the building are: audio systems (intercom, radio, music, speakers, microphones, amplifiers, etc.), video systems (such as projector), telephone systems, data systems (local area network, modem, router or wide area network), signals and multimedia systems (such as video-conferencing systems). The building shall also have any special communication systems that may be necessary to facilitate activities taking place in the function and meeting rooms. The communication services will also be interconnected with the security and fire protection systems. All the communication services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions.

Proposed Lighting Services

These are building protection systems that are meant to enhance security and safety of the building and its occupants by monitoring and controlling activities inside and around the building, and notify occupants and/or other relevant persons in case of a security breach (National Research Council, 2007). The security services proposed for this building include: perimeter security (a fence, wall, bollard, etc.), access control systems (such as keys, passcodes, access badges, key fobs, etc.), closed-circuit TV (CCTV) system, surveillance cameras, sensors and intruder/burglar alarm. All the security systems should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. Some of the standards to be used in design of security services include: AS 4806:2008 – CCTV suite (CCTV management, application guidelines, PAL signal settings, and remote video); AS/NZS 2201: 2008 suite – Intruder alarm systems (client’s premises, monitoring centres, detection devices and alarm transmission systems); AS/NZS 3016:2002 – Electrical installations; and AS 1725:2003 – Electricity gates and fencing.   

The building should also be protected against lightning strokes. The lightning protection system comprises of the capture device (air terminals or rods), down-conductors (conductor cables), earth leads (ground rods) and connections between earth leads and metallic frames, as shown in Figure 4 below. Lightning rod is the proposed type of lighting protection for this building. The lightning protection services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. The standards that will be used for design, installation and operation of lightning protection services are AS/NZS 1768: 2007 – Lightning protection.    

This is another very important building service even though it is usually overlooked. Functions of façade systems include: acoustic and thermal insulation, weather tightness (such as air permeability control, removal of water ingress, wind actions resistance), solar gain control, ultraviolet radiation control, aesthetics, etc. Proposed façade systems for the building are brick slip system, insulated wall panels, aluminium composite panel, precast concrete panels or insulated render. The façade services should be designed and installed in compliance with the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. The main standards to be used for the design and installation of façade services are AS/NZS 4284:2008 – Testing of building facades; AS/NZS 1530 set – Fire testing of building materials; and AS 5113 – Fire propagation testing and classification of external walls of buildings.

These are integrated, computer-based systems (software) that are used for monitoring, control and management of various conditions and systems installed in the building. They play a major role in minimizing resource wastage, improving comfort and safety of building occupants and protecting the environment (Beucker, et al., 2016); (Mirpadiab & Bagheri, 2016) (Pukite & Geipele, 2017). The building management system should integrate mechanical, electrical, lighting and ventilation systems, security systems, communication systems and fire systems, among others, as shown in Figure 5 below. To facilitate operation and efficiency of control systems, building control services should be integrated with the building information modelling (BIM) (Gerrish, et al., 2016). The building control systems will generally monitor and control factors such as temperature, humidity, airflow, toxic gases, occupancy presence, lighting intensity, operating hours, etc. This will help in ensuring that various systems, appliances and fixtures are only switched on when necessary thus reducing energy and water consumption in the building (Dounis & Caraiscos, 2009) (Rezeka, et al., 2015). 

Proposed Water, Plumbing, and Drainage Services

Integrating all the above building services will have numerous benefits throughout the building’s lifecycle. Some of these benefits include: increased energy savings, increased water savings, increased safety, improved comfort, increased productivity of occupants, increased safety, reduced carbon emissions; increased durability of appliances, ease of maintenance, reduced operating and maintenance costs, and increased environmental conservation. Therefore these building services will benefit the owners of the building, its users, surrounding community and the ecosystem as a whole.   

Every country or region has its own building and construction standards, codes and regulations. These are principally guidelines that have been set by concerned government authorities to guide people on what to build, where to build and how to build. This is done so as to protect the people, their activities and the ecosystem in an area because buildings, however small or big, have different impacts to surrounding people and the ecosystem. These standards and regulations have been set so as to suit the needs of the community and economy (Standards Australia, 2017). It therefore means that any building service or plan that does not meet the minimum building standards will not be approved by the concerned authorities and hence it cannot be constructed. Failure to comply with the relevant standards is an offense and punishable. For this reason, it is very important to follow these regulations when designing building services.

During design stage, relevant standards and regulations will be identified first before starting to design any building service. The design team will scrutinize the standards and regulations so as to understand the specification requirements for each building service. Every component and subsystem of each building service will then be designed by following the procedures outlined in the relevant standards. At the end of the design stage, all components, subsystems and integrated systems of various building services designed will be subjected to relevant checks for testing, evaluation and validation. Findings from the testing, evaluation and validation processes will also be used to optimize the services so as to have the best solutions.

The same standards compliance principle used in design stage shall be applied during construction stage. This means that construction of building services will be done in strict compliance with the relevant standards. The design team will include specific construction practices to be used in the contract documents and it will be the responsibility of the contractor to build the systems following these methods. To ensure strict compliance, the quality of workmanship and final products shall also be tested, evaluated and validated one every component has been built.

Conclusion

A building can only be functional and efficient if it has the right building services. The building services are what makes the indoor environment comfortable and safe for the occupants. This helps in improving the functionality and usability of the building. The recommended building services for the Church Hall are: mechanical services, electrical services, lighting services, water, plumbing and drainage services, fire detection and protection services, communication services, security services, lightning protection services, façade services and building management services. All these building services should be designed and constructed with strict compliance to the relevant Australian Standards, National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) standards and council conditions. They must also be designed and constructed to meet the technical and functional requirements of the building and should be resource efficient so as to reduce operating costs and promote environmental conservation. Designing and constructing these building services by following the relevant Australian Standards will be very useful in improving the building’s constructability, functionality, safety, sustainability, maintainability, serviceability and affordability.  

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