Today’s commercial construction, renovation, and custom home projects require support from MEP consultants (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) to maximize several important aspects of every project. These include energy efficiency, functionality, comfort, ease of maintenance, sustainability, and even employee productivity.
MEP consultants design building systems to operate optimally during their service life. The main purposes of an MEP consultant’s role begin with efficient construction costs but go much further to include minimizing operating costs, reducing unnecessary downtime, identifying energy deficiencies in existing structures, and proposing ways to improve total performance.
MEP Consultants Are Necessary For Every Building Project
Today’s construction and renovation projects are complex with multiple integrated systems that will almost certainly encounter problems both during construction and during operation if not designed and coordinated for optimization from the very beginning. Multiple factors cause one system to influence another that must be accounted for during the design phase. Although MEP consultants are involved throughout a project, one of their most critical roles is at the beginning.
The use of Lean Construction does much more than eliminate waste materials. It also eliminates or dramatically reduces activities that do not directly produce value for the final results of the construction work. It’s through careful and methodical planning that costs are reduced and optimal integration is achieved. As a single example, HVAC systems are typically an integration of mechanical components and plumbing that are controlled electronically. One part of the system does not work without the others. Similar integration is required for other systems like fire protection and automated lighting. For maximum energy efficiency, solar power is often brought into the calculation.
Roles and Responsibilities of MEP Consultants
Architects give shape, structure, and aesthetics to a building, but MEP consultants are responsible for life support and comfort services. Some are as basic as water and drainage, but complexity increases with voice/data systems and building management systems. Some may even be overlooked like emergency power generators or other unique needs of a particular project.
MEP consultants are specialized at the detail level as well as in industry requirements including shopping malls, large housing developments, civic buildings, high-rises, and mixed-use buildings.
Detail work includes ducts, dampers and controllers, thermal/cold insulation works, also erection of machinery like chiller units, air handling units, grills, diffusers, etc. Fire suppression systems require the design, installation, and maintenance of piping, sprinklers, pumps, and alarms, and typically include automation of the systems. K2D has experienced professionals who will perfectly balance fire protection design standards and goals to deliver on time and within the budget agreed with the client. Other unique requirements might include something like aircraft warning lights or traffic barriers.
MEP Consultants for Sustainability
Whether it is a residential home or a high-rise multi-use building, every construction project must meet all the necessary codes and standards that MEP consultants are always up to date on. This includes constantly evolving sustainability requirements. Buildings are living and breathing structures that are directly associated with greenhouse (GHG) emissions due to cooling, heating, lighting, and electricity. This part of construction has been actively evolving for decades and today there are many highly efficient solutions. Regardless of whether you’re in the new development stage or retrofitting a historical building, K2D MEP consultants will address any needs and requirements that will make your building more energy-efficient and reduce GHG emissions.
Prioritizing the MEP design early in the construction process is the best way to optimize the building’s performance for the life of the facility. Balancing the cost of these essential systems along with the need to control overall construction budgets requires the broad depth of experience that K2D delivers.
At the core of K2D are:
- MEP Services
- Title 24 Compliance & Energy Analysis
- Commissioning Services
- Facilities System Design
- LEED Certification
- Electrical design
- Heating, A/C & Ventilation Design
- Solar Design
- Plumbing Design
K2D provides specific solutions to your project challenges. Our MEP consultants are highly trained and experienced. We work closely with architects and owners to provide successful coordination of building systems. K2D provides the best design solutions that are cost-effective today and well into the future. Today’s facilities must be built to last many decades with the foresight to ensure a maximum lifecycle. For further information or to schedule a consultation please contact K2D at 310.935.3773 or visit www.K2D.com to learn more.
