Monday, December 23, 2013

Introduction to Building Services and Construction


Building Services

Other than the term "Building Services", other term that frequently being used is MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing), M & E (Mechanical and Electrical). This depends on the country / region preferences of which term to use.

Basically, M&E Services are all the services within one building, which without them the building is inhabitable.

M&E Services Consist of:

1. Hot and Cold Water System Cold water system is a system that supports the supply of fresh water to the building from the external source. This fresh water source is provided by either a municipal water company or a private underground well. If the source is provided by a municipal water company, the water will pass through a water meter before it enters building. This meter is used to measure the consumption of the water within that particular building.

2. Sanitary System

Sanitary system is simply a drainage system dedicated for the waste water produced within a building to flow to an external water treatment centre which is usually operated by authority. After the water being treated it will then be discharged to the sea. This water treatment centre may be located at a few kilometers distance away from the building, so it needs a system/channel for the waste water to flow. This kind of system is what usually referred as 'sanitary system' in construction term. Not all regions within a country have such a system, since it requires more efforts and capital to build this kind of infrastructure. But however, this is one of the best practice systems

3. Gas System

Gas system is a system to provide gas supply through gas pipe to household. The gas pipe may travel few kilometers distance from the centre which is usually operated by the authority to end users (household). Again this service is also only provided in certain regions. So the region that has this facility, conventional method of distributing gas through cylinder gas tank might not be used anymore in the household application

4. Air Conditioning and Mechanical Ventilation

Air-conditioning system is already popular in our society nowadays. Most of the households and offices in city already installed air-conditioning system. Air-conditioning system functions to create a comfort temperature room for human to stay inside. This is especially true when the ambient temperature is hot.

Mechanical ventilation is a system to create air circulation mechanically within a confined space which is achieved by installing fans. Logically thinking, mechanical ventilation is not needed if the air circulation within one space / room is alright. However this condition is not always true, especially within basement floor. Basement area is lower than the circumference level, so wind will blow straight from the surrounding level straight. As a result, area which is lower than that is hardly affected.

5. Fire Protection System

Fire protection system is the system to protect the building and occupants in case of fire. This service is a bit different compare to other services. It seems like no value to the occupants in the daily live operation of the building. Not like water, electricity. which without it the occupants will feel very uncomfortable. Can you imagine a building with no light, air conditioning, toilet?

But don't be mistaken, fire protection system is amongst the most important services. In the case of fire, without an adequate fire protection system, the fire will spread very fast and the number of victims will also be very high

6. Electrical Installation

The term "electrical" is familiar in our daily lives. In fact, it is one of the most important services in a building. A building without electricity is equal to dark, no air-con, no TV, no computer games and still many other things that is not available without electricity

7. Vertical Transport

Vertical transport usually refers to passenger lift or goods lift. For multi storey building, this system is one of the crucial service. Can you imagine someone need to climb up 20 storeys high by accessing staircase?

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