Building services engineers

A building services engineers designs and installs elements related to lighting, security and acoustics in a building, as well as the lifts and escalators. He or she will install heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water and drainage systems too. A buildings services engineer works hand in hand with architects to produce a complete and safe building, whether it is a small school, home or city office project. The fact that buildings are responsible for more than half of emissions today means that a building services engineer has a huge role to play in building development. He should also ensure that the building consumes the little possible amount of energy. Ensuring low consumption of energy in buildings or by buildings requires careful selection of materials. Thus, a qualified building services engineer should help select and advise on what materials should be used depending on the energy cut targets while balancing on aesthetics and functionality.

Because space lighting is a central role of a building services engineers, this expert must be involved from the word go if options such as use of renewable energy are to be blended in. This may affect the shape of a building.

Building services engineers in Surrey also do 2D and 3D designs, computer modeling, building simulation, and research on new technologies. These are some of the tasks they will do while in office. However, they also help or work together with architects to review designs, visit sites and discuss with manufacturers about new building options. This means they should be willing to become part of a team when applying for the job. They must be analytical and problem-solvers to be able to deal with issues at hand.
For instance, it might be hard to satisfy all users of different age, gender, and psychosocial atmospheres as these users have different perception on comfort e.g. thermal comfort. Different users like different lighting conditions or fitting, for instance, and it is hard to agree on what amount of daylight, heating and cooling should be comfortable for each one of the users of a building.

Other challenges in these systems include managing end-user behaviour. For instance, the operation of the building, which is dependent on user behaviour and occupancy patterns such as density and duration of stay in various areas of the building, may vary if it (the operation of the building) deviates from the original design parameters. The result is failure of building services engineering equipment and controls installed in the building.

Also, another challenge is that the service engineering equipment last for about 20 or 25 years. Changes in legislation and building practices can render them obsolete, especially now that technology changes really fast. Thus, a good building services engineer should put into consideration how such equipment will be upgraded, how it will be removed and replaced, as well as the place and method of disposal. They must also ensure that these systems are maintained and repaired if they have to perform optimally.