While the term MEP is familiar for those connected with real estate or building engineering and construction, there are few who don’t know the importance of MEP in building designs. In general, MEP means referring to mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems utilized in the building structure. Its use is primarily for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water management, lighting, communication as well as fire protection.
MEP is also often utilized when referring to designing, installing, operating and maintaining these individual systems. Despite its critical importance in building design, MEP is often underappreciated. Improving the performance of MEP system impacts the overall performance and operational efficiency of the building. It is thus important to ensure that the MEP designs are efficient so that the building development project is not affected adversely.
Here are the 3 critical steps an MEP contractor or an engineer should follow:
1. Giving the Priority to MEP Design Early
It is important to consider MEP design early during the construction process, to ensure that the design is optimized according to the building requirements. Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools like Revit can help the design engineer to develop future ready MEP designs that only remains effective for the present specifications, but is sustainable even for the future.
2. Energy Modeling for Performance Optimization
To ensure that MEP systems function optimally with the best performance, it is important to integrate intelligence in the design by determining the air quality requirements, LEED certifications and water conservation that can help in keeping the operations sustainable. This can be ascertained by performing energy modeling using details from the BIM data and considering factors like the requirements of occupants in the building. Savings can be achieved by implementing systems like motion activated lighting, automated heating and cooling systems.
3. Updating MEP Systems
To ensure that the building remains energy efficient, you need to upgrade or replace existing MEP systems with efficient ones, especially for systems that have reached to its end of useful life cycle. As a building owner, this task can be executed by partnering with an MEP consultant, who can help you with measuring the benefits of replacements, available rebates and incentives and rewards in terms of energy efficiency. A simple update like fixing the leaking pipes or replacing the air conditioning systems can lower the operating costs significantly and also reduce resource utilization. These changes make the building eligible to apply for rebates and recognition from LEED.
A properly defined strategy for MEP design is the starting point towards making the building energy efficient. An optimal MEP design not only reduces the operating costs of buildings but also helps the owner to keep the design sustainable for the future. It is thus important not to neglect this critical part of the building development and should be involved right from the early stages, to avoid cost overruns and inefficiencies.
If you are willing to implement efficient MEP designs for your building project, reach out to us at info@hitechbimservices.com. At Hi-Tech BIM Services, we have been delivering services like MEP BIM coordination, clash detection, as well as MEP design drafting for building facilities of any type and complexity.
