CAS offers sustainable engineering concept and design (fully integrated into the building and building systems design) for refurbishments and new-build properties.
Within this scope CAS will include suggestions on:
- Integration of renewable energy systems
- Low-energy building and envelope advice
- Dynamic thermal modeling and plant modeling
- Air-conditioning recommendations
- Energy advice can be provided for planning applications
Building energy assessments and carbon lifecycle analyses on embodied carbon would be conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of the current building energy systems. From these, site-wide energy master plans can be developed. Corporate and building GHG inventories can be listed and an energy management plan can be developed to implement across all areas of the organisation. Staff training and inductions would be important aspects of the process in order to gain multi-level support. Energy performance certificates (EPC) can also be awarded.
CAS – (M&E)
With a full capacity for providing mechanical and electrical engineering services, we are able not only to advise but to implement the solutions we recommend, which means for our clients we are a point of single access for achieving carbon neutral status. We are also able to act as Concept Guardian if a client wishes to instruct other engineers to implement our plans. A definition of this concept is given below, but in short, we ensure the delivery of the implementation is true to the original design.
The mechanical and electrical (M&E) lifecycle typically is 10-15 years. During a refurbishment we can upgrade to higher energy efficiency at low or zero capital cost because we are using the existing refurbishment budget, which in general has already been allocated. This in turn creates greatly reduced operational costs on an ongoing basis. We can also recommend new versions of better equipment as opposed to piecemeal replacement of old technology. For new build properties, we expect to achieve 40-60% emissions reductions in comparison with old-style carbon-pollutive buildings. This is achievable utilising our innovative engineering approach, even before we start to introduce renewable technologies.
We have found that the CAPEX of a new zero carbon building can be the same as an old-style pollutive building, but the OPEX can be reduced by as much as 70%. We also advise our clients on future-proofing the asset value of their property portfolio relating to where building codes will be. We are able to take a building beyond LEED or BRREAM ‘excellent’ status, which according to a recent quote by Ceres (www.ceres.org) will affect an increase of the value of the property by up to 10%, and will also place it in line with UK or US building codes for the next 15-20 years so will not suffer the normal discount in value on re sale.
This is key, as normal practice is for buildings services teams to replace old equipment when it wears out with new but unimproved versions of the old equipment. This means that buildings do not mature to low or zero carbon. We estimate that over a gigatonne of CO2 is created unnecessarily from badly tuned buildings, and this is an indication of the scale of the market place we are in.
Project Phases
Our proposals have four phases: Feasibility Study, Sketch Design, Scheme Design and Detailed Design or Concept Guardian. A description of each phase is summarised below, but the precise definitions for all but Concept Guardian are published by the UK’s Association of Consulting and Engineering.
1 Concept Appraisal:
This is a report containing analysis, thermal modeling and a review of technologies. The purpose is to make a clear recommendation to our clients about how to best proceed. Their decision informs the design phase.
2 Sketch Design:
In this phase we prepare single-line schematics and diagrams sufficient to indicate the design intent and principles. Plant and equipment are provisionally sized and laid out.
3 Scheme Design:
In this phase we prepare single-line layout drawings and co-ordinate with ours or the client’s architect to finalise key design decisions such as, location and size of plantrooms, services distribution zones, principal routes, and overall engineering strategies.
Depending upon the project, it is sometimes possible to combine sketch and scheme design into a single phase.
4 Detailed Design:
In this phase we prepare layout drawings, critical sections, co-ordinate with the architect, size pipes, and specify equipment and workmanship. The purpose of this phase is to allow tenders to be sought based on unambiguous requirements, but it also provides a high level of design detail and sufficient information to allow the architectural design to be finished. These drawings and specifications will also form the basis of the Contract with the installers.
These drawings purposely stop short of being installation drawings. Installation drawings are the drawings used on site by the tradesmen. Under normal consultancy duties, installation drawings are prepared by the Contractor (although based on the Consultant’s drawings) and show supports, brackets, final connection details and precise dimensions. Sometimes they are just re-badged Consultant’s drawings, but this subtle difference stops the Contractor downing tools and claiming a delay every time a site condition is not exactly as expected.
( M&E) Mechanical & Electrical engineering services:
We like to implement the plans we create so as to remain as true as possible to the original design. The economies of scale mean that having CAS implement full M&E, as well as sustainable design, on a project reduces duplication of cost. CAS offers high quality services in this area, most of our engineers have over 20 years experience each in M&E engineering.
Building Re-tuning
Even BREEAM excellent buildings tend have up to 50% of their energy being consumed outside of a 60-hour working week. There is an annuity income to be generated by regular tuning of buildings.
Fee Structure
Fees charged at the concept appraisal stage, vary according to the size of the job. On a small office or residential property it would be charged at a few thousand pounds, whereas larger projects can go up £15,000 to £35,000. The size of the job is determined by a site visit which we charge for, at a cost of £2,400, although this generally applies to bigger projects where the site visit and proposal writing is time consuming. Often with residential projects we will wave this fee and go straight to concept appraisal. For the following stages, we generally make a 50% mark-up on all fees. Although for full M&E services and sustainability design on refurb projects we make a 2.5 – 3% mark up on the overall build cost and 3 – 3.5% mark up on new builds.
All travel and expenses are charged in addition to fees.